


The Beginning of Days: Nova Academy

by MBIII



Series: Days Past [1]
Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Action/Adventure, Boarding School, Canon Compliant, Eventual Romance, Gen, Humor, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-11 22:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 100,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17455262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MBIII/pseuds/MBIII
Summary: Sixteen year old Kaden and his two close friends will soon be attending Nova Academy, the most renowned Lombax School in existence. At Nova they will meet new friends, discover new challenges, and grow into the great Lombaxes they all have the potential to be. However, Nova Academy isn't the greatest for nothing... Kaden may have met his match before he even arrives.The main character of this book is Ratchet's father, Kaden and it will focus on his days as a brilliant young Lombax with a penchant for trouble making. The story will take place on Fastoon, long before the fall of the Lombaxes.





	1. The Final Day

**Author's Note:**

> This book is being transferred over from Fanfiction.net, so I will be posting new chapters fairly frequently as I go through them to make sure the formatting is correct. If you enjoy what you read below and don't feel like waiting until it's finished posting, you can find it here:  
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9440782/1/Days-Past-The-Beginning-of-Days

**-Planet Fastoon-**

**-Valmecha City, 1st District-**

**-Praetorian Guard Peacekeeping Division's 4th Precinct-**

**-The Office of Guardian Alexi Zakon-**

**-Early Morning-**

Alexi Zakon was an old Lombax.

With light, tan fur run through by red stripes faded with age, he sat at his desk, watching through the window as the sun rose in the distance.

For many years Guardian Zakon had served as a proud, living symbol of protection and order for all residents in the Lombax city of Valmecha. His career was one filled with shining dedication and stalwart resolve and never had he faced a challenge that he could not overcome.

But, as the first rays of light poked out from behind the tops of nearby strato-scrapers, all he could think about was the daunting ordeal he now faced.

A small red light flashed into life, blinking on Zakon's desk intercom. With one last look at his city and a short sigh, the old Guardian reached over to the light and pressed his finger against it until the blinking stopped.

Seconds later the familiar voice of his assistant spoke from the intercom's speaker, "Guardian Zakon," she began with a practiced, formal tone, "everyone is assembled."

"Thank you Daria," replied Zakon simply and, with a click, the intercom went silent.

Alexi Zakon had been protecting the city of Valmecha for more years than he cared to remember. He had personally caught Terraklon assassins attempting to murder high ranking council members and had even once ordered the arrest of an entire Terachnoid embassy, regardless of diplomatic immunity, for attempting to steal Lombax secrets.

In his many years Zakon had beaten down more threats to this Lombax capital of science and industry than most citizens could even imagine… or would ever know about. But not once, in all those many years he'd served, did he believe that the greatest threat to his beloved city would come from within. That it would come from one of its very own citizens.

The old Guardian breathed a deep sigh before getting up from his chair and walking toward the door. He stopped just in front of the doorway and lifted the officer's cap off of a nearby hook. He then placed it carefully on his head, taking care to adjust it properly between his ears. Once he was sure he was presentable, he straightened his back, puffed out his chest, and walked forward. The door slid open with a hiss just before he made contact, allowing him to pass through uninterrupted. Now in the hallway beyond, Zakon turned a stiff ninety degrees before proceeding to march silently down it and out the main doors.

* * *

**-Planet: Fastoon-**

**-Valmecha City, 1st District-**

**-Praetorian Guard Peacekeeping Division's 4th Precinct-**

**-Main Communications Relay Hub-**

**-Early Morning-**

As Guardian Zakon approached the podium on the stage, he looked out over the faces of the small group Lombaxes who stood at attention, eagerly waiting to be addressed. They were his fellow Praetorian Guardsmen and each one served the city of Valmecha with loyalty and honor, just as he did.

Some of the officers among the crowd were young, newly recruited, and inexperienced. Many of them had looked up to Guardian Zakon from before they'd even shed their baby coats. Others among them had served for years, some for almost as long as him, and he recognized many of their faces from personal experience. Every one of the men and women present respected him with all the reverence his legendary career deserved. Each one had sworn, just as he had, to protect their city and their home from the forces of evil and disharmony in all their many forms.

Today, that oath would be put to the test.

Guardian Zakon took a deep breath before leaning into the podium microphone, "They say that to enjoy the beauty of what tomorrow’s sun will bring…" he began in a voice that boomed with authority and echoed with experience, "…one must first weather the horrors of the storms overhead."

His words rolled over the mass of officers while also being broadcast out across the city. In every corner of Valmecha, from the highest peaks of the political centers in the 1st district to lowest corners of the industrial complexes in the 13th district, every available officer of the Guard stood ready to protect their home on this final day.

"Today," Alexi continued solemnly, "that storm lurks over us. And as the noble protectors of this city, it is our duty to weather it. For the sake of all who dwell within, we must stand against it and when it passes, a new sun will rise on a brighter day and a new city. I'd like to thank each and every officer from all of the Valmecha's thirteen districts for their cooperation on this matter. Together we shall work as one unit to defend this city from the worst threat that it has ever known…"

* * *

**-Valmecha City, 8th District-**

**-Praetorian Guard Patrol Cruiser XH-793-**

**-Early Morning-**

"Is this really going to be as bad as it sounds?" asked the young rookie officer in the passenger seat of Patrol Cruiser XH-793. The veteran officer in the driver seat next to him simply took a few more sips from his mug as Zakon continued his speech on the radio, prompting his young partner to continue, "I mean, the first district has one of the most heavily equipped and largest Peacekeeper forces on Fastoon. They should be able to handle any kind of big trouble themselves right? We're just here for crowd control, aren't we?"

The older officer sighed and put down his mug, "You've heard the reports about what happened right?" he asked calmly.

The young officer nodded, "Yea, I've heard it's been bad for some of the other areas, but the conflict hasn't reached us yet. There haven’t been any signs of trouble in the city since the news got out and the decision was made. I mean, after the move today, that lunatic and the people of Valmecha will be far apart."

The old officer shook his head knowingly, "Rookie, it’s precisely ‘because’ this is the last day where anything could happen that we know something will. You think someone like that is just going to leave Valmecha alone? No, this was where he was born, or spawned, or whatever. He won't just let this city go without a fight. You can hold onto your naïve hope for a peaceful transition if you want to, but just like Guardian Zakon, neither you nor I will be found wanting on this final day. Now change your undies and wipe your nose. We have to be ready for anything."

* * *

"From this very city, he was raised!" boomed Zakon's words over the speakers in the muster ground and through the police receivers around the city. "And yet he happily causes so much damage, destruction, and misery among his own people! We will not allow any more of it! For those of you who still harbor doubts that someone could do such things to their own home, let me be clear, there is such a thing as true evil. It even has a name… Kaden!"

* * *

Kaden, a young Lombax with tan fur, brown stripes, and green eyes, yawned deeply as he blinked away sleepy tears. The wind of the Valmechan skyline howled around him as he worked.

The bitter cold bit into the exposed parts of body, even through his fur, while the air was so thin, that breathing was just a waste of body heat. If not for the reprogrammed nanites in his bloodstream directly converting carbon dioxide back to oxygen, he’d never be able to pull of this stunt.

Sure, he could have used some kind of breathing mask, but they were uncomfortable and it wouldn’t have been as cool.

He was currently sitting atop the Stratus Beacon, which was not only the tallest building in District 8, but also the tallest building in Valmecha city. Far above the roofs of even the strato-scrapers below, Kaden relaxed against a communications antenna while typing on a portable holo-screen in his hand.

He closed his eyes again as another gust of wind kicked up. His tired eyes then looked out at the rising sun on the horizon. It was really early in the morning now and Kaden had been up for most of the night typing away up here, ever since he spliced into the Stratus Beacon’s main communication dish. For the life of him however, he couldn't figure out what had made him decide to do this, but that didn't matter now; he had already made the decision.

There was quick series of beeps from the digi-pad in his hand and a large, smiling, cartoon Lombax appeared on the screen, ' _Well,_ ' thought Kaden, ' _that didn't take much time_.'

He was honestly a little disappointed. While it had actually taken him much longer to hack the city's Praetorian Guard network this time, he had been hoping that with all the hype Guardian Zakon had been building about his last day in Valmecha, that there'd be at least some kind of a real challenge. He shook his head sadly, but was quickly cheered up as he finally remembered why he was doing all this in the first place. After all, his good pal Lexi and the Praetorian Guard's Peacekeepers had spent so much time and effort in anticipation of his big day, how could he possibly not show up to his own party?

Kaden set down his digi-pad and stood from his seat before stretching out his stiff muscles in the morning sun.

Once all his limbs were sufficiently loose, Kaden then reached down and picked up his custom built hoverboard, which was how he had gotten up here in the first place. He took a few seconds to weight the long object in his hands before spinning around and hammer throwing the object out across the empty sky. It fell only a short distance before its anti-grav array came online and held it aloft. Then, another gust of wind blew at that moment and the board was carried off into the distance.

Kaden watched it go for a little bit before turning back around and retrieving his helmet from where he’d left it by his makeshift seat. Like everything in Kaden's possession, his helmet had been highly customized with dozens of various upgrades and add-ons, many of which were of his own design. He slid the bowl shaped object over his head and smoothly threaded his long ears through the two holes at the top with practiced ease. As the helmet sat on his skull, it began the process of connecting with his Neural Interface Device, or NID for short.

A NID was a device implanted in the brains of almost all Lombaxes when they reach a certain age and acted as both a communications antenna and a digital identification system. Kaden's NID, thanks to heavy modifications, also allowed him to control many remote electronic systems with nothing more than a thought.

As Kaden’s helmet came online, a clear visor slid down from the helmet's brow and stopped at his nose. He felt his senses being linked to it and could suddenly feel its many controls as clearly as if they had been physically placed in his hands. Displayed on his visor now were dozens of readings, everything from his heart rate to his holo-net inbox and with a simple thought, the crystal clear window across his eyes shifted into a blacked out, one-way mirror that hid most of his face.

Kaden walked to the very edge of the the Stratus Beacon and looked out over the incredible drop and city below. As he did so, he took a deep breath and did an intense mental check to ensure that he wasn't forgetting anything else, for now he stood upon both a metaphorical and literal point of no return and he needed to be sure everything was in order.

Finally confident that he was all set, he nodded to himself and took a step forward, walking clean over the edge of the Stratus Beacon.

Just as his feet left the building's metal surface, his hoverboard swooped in beneath him in a screech of powerful jets. With razor sharp precision, the metallic board timed its approach so as to slide smoothly under his feet. Within the next millisecond, heavy support clamps erupted from the otherwise smooth surface of the board and wrapped themselves around Kaden’s ankles, securing him in place and carrying him forward.

With a sharp shift of weight, Kaden directed the board down and together him and his board plummeted to the ground at incredible speeds.

Kaden didn't make any other moves at first, simply letting himself enjoy the free fall as the wind whipped his bodysuit and ran through his fur. Then, as he began to approach the terminal velocity of his fall, he kicked on the board’s booster rockets. At once, another piercing shriek of jets echoed out across the city skyline as he was sent careening downward at breakneck speed. The sheer force of his acceleration sent cracks running down the nearby windows as he passed them.

* * *

**-Valmecha City, District 8-**

**-Praetorian Guard Patrol Cruiser XH-793-**

**-Mid-morning-**

"Did you hear that?" asked the young officer nervously.

The older officer groaned, "I didn't hear anything, Rookie. Don't tell me you're going to start jumping at every little thing now?" he questioned with a shake of his head. "I won't ever say that this Kaden fellow isn't a huge problem, but he's not some murdering invader. He never does much more than break or steal stuff.”

The young officer looked around, sure that he’d sensed something, "Well, I guess… I think it was more of a… a bad feeling, Sarge," he explained as he switched his focus to the the detection equipment in the cruiser. The sonic analyzers hadn’t picked up anything out of the ordinary.

The Sergeant's reply dripped with sarcasm, "Ohhhh, I see. Well, if you had a 'bad feeling' then I guess we should go investigate," he mocked openly. The young officer lowered his ears in embarrassment as the Sergeant switched on the communication relay and raised the transceiver to his mouth, "PG cruiser XH-793 to base," he began with feigned seriousness, "current position: south side of the Stratus Beacon, bottom of the residence level. Seems we've got ourselves a code A4-20 here, detection of ‘bad vibes’ in a no ‘heebie-jeebies’ sector. Suspected possible illegal possession of ‘voodoo’. Recommend a sweep of the area for any signs of ‘bad mojo’."

* * *

Kaden was about to enter Fastoon’s lower atmosphere, which marked the start of the civilian level of District 8. His plan was to build up a lot of speed, using the planet's gravity to aid his acceleration, and then initiate a momentum shift at the very last moment.

From a physics standpoint, a momentum shift was a lot like teleporting in the sense that his atoms were being converted to and from a pure energy state, except that they wouldn't be transmitted any sort of distance. Instead they would simply be reintegrated with their velocity relative to the universe facing a different direction.

His helmet's HUD was currently showing him a zoomed-in vision of the path directly ahead of him. It was clear of any obstruction for next several hundred meters, but then an image of a Praetorian Guard patrol cruiser hovering next to the Stratus Beacon below him was blown up on his visor with a red ‘obstruction’ icon lit up next to it. Kaden smiled wide as he studied the image and he just knew that today was going to be a great day.

A flash of lightning burst up from the nose of his hoverboard and arced its way up over his head, before coming back down to touch the engine on the board’s rear. This friction dissipator he had just activated was used to negate the force of wind resistance and stop him from getting slowed down or injured by it.

A short second later his overdrive cell kicked in, more than tripling his engine's output, and propelling him forward with enough force to break the sound barrier. The sonic boom that was generated blasted outward, shattering the windows of the buildings around him in his wake.

* * *

"Darn it Darrel, how many times do I have to tell you stop using the PG band just to make fun of the new recruits?" demanded a female voice on the other end of the cruiser's communicator.

Sergeant Darrell continued to laugh regardless, "Hold on Marge, there's someone at my window," he said comedically before altering his voice into his best impression of a woman in distress, "Oh, help me officer! That man over there gave me the creeps," Next, he made his tone very deep, "Don't worry ma'am. I won't allow the reckless distribution of the willies go unpunished in my neighborhood," he declared with mock nobility before bursting into another fit of laughter.

"If you call one more time for your nonsense, I'll have you reported," threatened Marge angrily, before the communicator clicked off.

The sergeant wiped tears from his eyes as he finally got his laughing under control, "Oh get over it rookie, it's just a joke," he said as he noticed his partner with his ears over his face in the common Lombax way of showing embarrassment. The sergeant took a deep breath to calm himself and picked up his mug again, "Just trust me kid. I've been on the force longer than you could use a toilet. If anything bad was coming our way, I'd know. I can smell a criminal from a mile off," he assured his partner as he raised the mug to his lips.

At that exact moment, something large suddenly appeared on the hood of the cruiser from out of nowhere. This was immediately followed by a blindingly bright flash of light, but before the two officers could even react, a shockwave of compressed air slammed into the roof of their vehicle. The whole hover car was sent flying from where it had been hovering idly a moment ago. The sergeant's mug, still in his hand, flew upward and smacked him in the eye before spilling his steaming hot drink all over his face and uniform.

He gasped in pain and surprise as the scalding liquid matted his fur and burnt his skin. The car was flipped end over end until it was brought to halt as the grav-stabilizers kicked in automatically, "What was that?!" he demanded frantically.

Still very shaken from the recent impact, the young officer quickly worked the controls of the cruiser's analyzers and video feeds, "I don't know sir," he answered nervously. "It was there for less than a second, I'll need a little bit of time to grab the specific point-". The rookie officer paused halfway through his sentence. "Sir," he restarted, "sensors detect that whatever it was, it's on the move and heading for the main traffic skyway."

The sergeant's eyes narrowed with determination as he dropped his now empty mug and grabbed the driving controls of the cruiser. Its engine revved loudly and a second later the car was rocketing forward onto the skyway in hot pursuit with sirens blaring.

Kaden barreled along the skyway, zipping in and out of traffic, going several times the speed limit, after his amazingly, and somewhat surprisingly, successful momentum shift. He used his nav computer and the data relays that he'd opened in the Guard's traffic network to plot out a path through the sea of vehicles.

"This is cruiser XH-793, we have a code 1U-F0." shouted Sergeant Darrell over the communication relay.. "Unidentified object is moving at high speeds on Skyway 534, District Eight, requesting back-up."

"Oh, so now it's aliens is it?" asked Marge sarcastically over the comms. "That's it Darrel, I'm going to report you to…"

"I'm being serious Marge!" interrupted the sergeant angrily. "It came out of nowhere. Rookie, do you have an image yet?"

The young officer was staring at a holo-screen with pursed lips and horrified eyes, "Y-Yes," he began to answer hesitantly, "but sir-."

"Let me see then!" grumbled the sergeant as he set the cruiser to auto-pursue before reaching over and grabbing the holo-screen from his partner in training. He took one look at the image displayed and groaned loudly before throwing it back and picking up the comm. transceiver again, "Marge… put me through to Guardian Zakon's office."

* * *

Alexi Zakon had barely reentered his office before his comm. unit beeped for his attention.

Swiftly he walked over to his desk and pressed down on the device’s touch key, "What is it?" he asked calmly into the microphone.

"Sir," answered Zakon's assistant dutifully, "there is a unit in pursuit of a suspect that they believe to be a Person of Interest, call-sign ‘Kaden’."

Alexi Zakon bit back sounds of joy and clenched his fist tightly. He had been right to believe that Kaden was both foolish and arrogant enough to cause trouble on his very last day. Now, with every officer in Valmecha on high alert and with the preparations he'd made personally, there was no way that the living stain on his otherwise virtually spotless career record would escape him this time.

"Shall I put them on sir?" continued the assistant when she received no reply.

"Affirmative," answered Zakon eagerly, "patch them through directly to my comm."

There was click as the comm. channel was switched and a new voice spoke, "Guardian Zakon sir?" the young officer asked. He was out of breath, but clearly excited.

"This is Guardian Alexi Zakon," Alexi responded. "I hear you may have spotted our target?"

"Yes sir!" answered the officer eagerly. "And might I just say that it's an honor to speak with-"

"Rookie!" shouted another voice through the comm. "Stop fangirling and make your report."

"Right, sorry sir," apologized the first voice. "We are currently following a suspect moving at high speeds south-bound on Skyway 538, last index marker two-two-seven."

"And you're sure it's Kaden?" Zakon questioned keenly, accidentally letting a little bit of his enthusiasm show.

"We're pretty sure," responded the officer. "I'm transferring you an image now."

"Excellent work," replied Zarkon, unable to hide the joy in his voice. "All we have to do is get him under suspicion of a crime and it could ruin his whole transfer. I'd say speeding down a skyway and refusing to pull over would be enough to book him. I also know for a fact that he doesn't have a hover car license yet, we might even be able to add grand theft auto to his sentencing." Zakon finished with a smirk as he rubbed his hands together.

"Umm," began the young officer hesitantly, "he's not traveling in hover car sir."

"What?" intoned Zakon in confusion. "Then what in the name of the council is he using to break the fastest speed limit in the city?"

At that moment the image capture sent from patrol cruiser XH-793 made it through to Zakon's computer. Displayed on the holo-monitor before him was a picture of a young Lombax on a hoverboard. Their helmet visor was blacked out and covered their eyes, so only the lower half of their face was visible. Their mouth was bent in a huge grin and their tongue was hanging out it while their arm stretched toward the camera with their hand closed into a fist, minus the pinky and thumb, which were extended outward.

Zakon's eyes widened in surprise before then narrowing as his expression hardened, "Never mind, thank you son," he added as he cut the line to patrol cruiser XH-793. He then switched back over to the channel for his assistant. "Daria," he began authoritatively, "put all units, and I mean ‘all’ units, in the area on pursuit. Tell them they are to apprehend with extreme prejudice.

“Command confirmed,” Daria acknowledged.

“One more thing Daria,” Zakon then continued, “connect me to the Pursuit Corp... It's time to go hunting."

* * *

It had barely been two minutes since Kaden had posed for that first patrol cruiser and already over a dozen Praetorian Guard units were now chasing him down Skyway 538, sirens blaring, as he haphazardly zipped through traffic.

Most of the civilian vehicles that rode on the city’s skyway were on autopilot and were actually being flown by the city's traffic network. Under most instances of a skyway chase, the traffic system would avert vehicles from suspects to allow the Guard to catch them.

Due to Kaden's low profile however, he was able to easily slip between openings in large vehicles despite the system’s maneuvers and was keeping himself ahead of the bulky Guard cruisers that could not do the same. He wouldn't have even had to worry about being caught if the police units on his tail were his only concern. As he'd learned from experience, a police force's strength wasn't in its ability to chase, but in the fact that there were always more officers just around the next corner.

Kaden's eyes were sharp, his sensory equipment finely tuned, and he kept himself on alert at all times, but even he couldn't see in every direction at once. Squad cars could come at him from anywhere at any given time. With sirens blaring and engines roaring, they would emerge from the ocean of vehicles like fish leaping to catch a fly.

Lining the outside hull of each PG cruiser were several strips of highly magnetic material. If anything metallic got too close to them, it would become captured in their magnetic grip and the cruiser in question would simply pull off and land somewhere. This was standard procedure when chasing criminals in hover cars, and, though the system wasn’t designed with him in mind, it would still be effective against Kaden's metal hoverboard and armor.

Knowing this, Kaden spun his board around to avoid yet another close call with a patrol car and sent himself spinning toward a large cargo hauler in the process.

He pulled back hard on his board and slammed into the hauler’s side, but just managed to slow himself down enough to prevent any real damage.

Immediately, he pushed off again and blasted his way deeper into the forest of vehicles before stabilizing his flight and taking a moment to assess his situation. His progress was slowing and he didn't like how much work he had to do to keep avoiding attacks. It would only take one mistake for him to become glued to the side of a Peacekeeper car, so he decided it was time to go on the offensive.

Kaden still had a huge advantage over his pursuers. Not only was he small enough to weave through traffic and hide behind larger vehicles, but the PG cruisers that were after him all had their sirens wailing loudly and it was giving away their position. He had used this fact to avoid all of the previous attacks, but simple survival wasn't what he wanted anymore. He waited until he was a sure a Guard unit was in the perfect position, and then he pounced.

Throwing on a spurt of afterburners, Kaden dove straight down, missing a few civilian hover cars by precisely calculated inches, before appearing just above a patrol car like a bird diving at its prey. The two officers within didn't even see him coming before they watched their target drive the reinforced tip of his hoverboard into the hood of their vehicle, causing massive damage to their main engine systems.

The two officers gasped in surprise, but quickly reacted according to their training and activated the exterior defenses. A second later the hum of flowing electricity filled the air and the magnetic capture field turned on.

Kaden lurched forward as the metal in his suit was pulled forcefully down toward the hover car’s hood. The car's engine spluttered and coughed loudly under the strain of powering the magnetic field thanks to the damage it had taken, but PG cruisers were built tough. Automatic, internal systems rerouted power and fuel while onboard Nanotech began to repair critical areas. Unfortunately, Kaden's impact had been miscalculated and hadn't been enough to bring the cruiser down.

The pinned Lombax pulled hard on the vehicle's hood, but its ironclad grip on his armor was too strong to break. Inside, the two officers watched him carefully as they brought their cruiser's altitude up to the top of the skyway, which held the slower skylanes. Neither of them could believe that they'd actually caught the infamous Kaden and satisfied grins slowly crept onto their faces.

However, the young Lombax on their hood refused to give up and he continued to pull against his magnetic chains. Effort and strain was clear in his gritted teeth and after several intense seconds, he managed to slowly bend the metal hood upwards.

Under normal circumstances, the bulletproof engine cover of a PG patrol cruiser would never yield to such an effort, but thanks to large hole and subsequent sheer tears left in it by Kaden’s hoverboard, he was able to open up a gap just big enough to fit his hand through.

Once he'd made an entry big enough, he stopped moving and this time a large grin split across his face. He looked back up at the two officers through the windshield and was pleased to note that theirs had disappeared and had been replaced by appropriate looks of worry on both their faces.

Then, with just a little more effort, Kaden managed to slide his hand through the rent in the hood and grab a handful of engine wiring from underneath. A second later a silent command from his NID sent torrents of electricity pumping from his suit's energy core, through his gloves, and into the vehicle’s engine.

Sparks erupted from beneath to hood and flooded out of the car's tailpipe as the cruiser’s electrical systems were fried and pockets of pre-oxidized fuel were ignited prematurely.

After several long moments of violent lurches and bangs that shook the three occupants of the cruiser violently, the engine finally died and the hover car began descending once more.

With no more energy to feed them, the magnets holding Kaden in place shut down and he was freed from their grasp... but he wasn't done yet.

Having spotted yet another Guard cruiser coming up from below to try and catch the first with its own magnetic capture system, Kaden was struck by inspiration. With a simple mental command, Kaden's hoverboard roared to life once more, screaming loudly and forcing the nose of the hover car it was embedded in downward at a rapidly increasing speed.

The second cruiser didn't have time to react as they were right underneath the first. Metal crumpled against metal, Kaden laughed, four PG officers shouted in dismay, and the sound of a hover car collision rang out.

The second vehicle's roof caved in like a tin can being crushed and upon sensing the immediate danger to its occupants, the cruiser's onboard safety system activated. The air foam canisters stored in the operator compartment of the vehicle discharged their contents with explosive force. Within microseconds, the interior of the car was filled with white puffy foam that absorbed the rest of the impact from the crash and protected the now immobile Guardsmen within.

As the foam-filled vehicle plummeted to the ground, Kaden looked back up at the two officers in the car he was attached too. They were currently hugging each other as they watched helplessly to see what he did next. Kaden then decided to make the situation worse by showing off the widest and most diabolically wicked looking grin he had, and its effects could be clearly seen in the fearful eyes of the PG officers. Then... he simply re-engaged his board's anti-grav generator and flew away.

There was a brief moment of cautious relief that flooded the two officers as they watched Kaden fly up and away. That was, until they realized that Kaden wasn't actually moving up, but that instead it was them who were falling. The young Lombax waved to them as they disappeared down into the river of cars that made up the faster skyway lanes and were swallowed from sight.

After they were gone Kaden turned his hoverboard around and was considering repeating the move when the metal rails that marked the borders of the skyway began to flash red.

In unison, all of the civilian hover cars began to pull out of the skyway as the traffic control system declared an emergency action. Traffic, as far the eye could see, was brought to halt.

Kaden hadn't expected the Guard to close down the entire skyway just for him. It was, after all, the main artery of the city and took it pridefully as the complement that he knew it was.

As the ocean of cars drained away, they left in their wake a small army of Praetorian Guard vehicles that had been scattered within. There were nearly a hundred of them now, but the sheer number of cars didn't really bother Kaden, though. He had built his hoverboard himself and knew that he could hold his own against any basic model Praetorian patrol cruiser.

That, however, was not the case for the long, sleek, black painted Prowler pursuit units that he could now see weaving their way towards him through the mass of standard vehicles.

Despite Kaden's pride in his hoverboard craftsmanship, his puny dual turbine, ion drive engine couldn't possibly hope to match a Praetorian Guard predator-class cruiser in a competition of speed.

With a slight shift in body weight, his hoverboard's path curved along the skyway and tore off down an express tunnel that would lead to District seven. Luckily, he had already foreseen this scenario and had calculated it into his plans for today, even if it had happened a little ahead of schedule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Extra:  
> Here, at the end of many chapters, I’ll put various little notes about some ‘behind the scenes stuff’. A warning though, I might not be correct about all translations:
> 
> Alexi Zakon – is the ‘Guardian’ of Valmecha, which is a title like ‘General’ or ‘Chief’, marking him as the head of all Valmecha security and police forces. His name ‘Alexi’ comes from the word ‘lex’ which means law/regulation/compact in Latin and also means ‘man’s defender’ in Greek. ‘Zakon’ means law/act/principle in Russian.


	2. Hunted

The lights of the express tunnel dimmed around Kaden, causing the bright flashes of red and blue from the Peacekeeper units that chased him to flare brightly and uncontested as they reflected along its surface. 

The path ahead had many twists and turns as it weaved through city buildings, but at last Kaden came to final one: a sharp curve that he expertly zipped around before it ended and the young Lombax was thrown straight in a world of flashing, neon lights.

District seven was also known as the entertainment district. Theaters, restaurants, casinos, sports venues, and more filled almost every inch of it. It had even been nicknamed Lombegas and, while the name sounded stupid in Kaden's opinion, it had become one synonymous with the wildest party district on the planet.

The residents of the seventh district had long held a united belief that night time was party time, but, unfortunately for them, the pesky sun would come every morning to put an end to the night's festivities. To combat this mood-ruining light (and increase revenue) the district council had ordered that a massive roof be built to keep the sun out and the feeling of night going all day long. And so it was.

Kaden looked up at the enormous, awe inspiring ceiling that projected a vast, artificial sky. Tiny dots of light were all celestially accurate representations of the stars and planets beyond it. It would have been almost impossible for even Kaden to tell that it was an illusion, had it not been for the occasional, brightly shifting advertisement that played across it.

Running through the center of the entire district was a massive canyon, with brightly lit buildings forming its walls and dozens of walkways lining its sides. This huge open space in the middle of everything was meant to be a main skyroad and had been made big enough to allow for the frequent parades and cruise ships that passed through. Stretching across the wide expanse were dozens of crosswalks that could work like drawbridges when necessary.

With all the various colored lights and the dark atmosphere, Kaden was sure to find a good place to hide in here. However, the moment the young Lombax entered the extravagantly lit city district, a loud, long siren rang out across the area advising citizens to clear the crosswalks and take refuge within any local buildings. 

Again, pride filled Kaden's chest as he saw the length Valmecha’s Guardian was willing to go to catch him. The young Lombax zipped above the heads of the fleeing patrons below. The crosswalks, as far as his visor enhanced eyes could see, were rapidly emptying and being drawn back into the buildings and out of the way.

Mere moments later, a tidal wave of wailing police sirens and vehicles gushed out of the express tunnel behind him. Enough time had passed now that almost all of Valmecha's elite Guard forces had been deployed. 

Stationed at the rear of the Guard column were the heavy assault vehicles. These were the tanks and APCs that made up the city's SWAT regiments and they were here just in case Kaden tried to make a defensive last stand somewhere. 

Ahead of them were over a hundred ordinary patrol cruisers. These were the cars Kaden had picked up like metal filings to a magnet as he flew along the skyway, still unwilling to give up on the glory of capturing him, even as more specialized units joined the hunt.

And finally, at the very front of the pack were the sleek, black vehicles of the Peace Keeper's elite Pursuit Division and the only unit here that gave Kaden concern. These assault cars were not only much faster than he was on his hoverboard, but they were also armed with long range Mag-net cannons. 

To make matters worse, now that the civilians had cleared out, the officers piloting the swift vehicles would have no concerns about opening fire on him. As he looked around, he could see that there weren't even any other vehicles or obstacles in the air that he could use to slow them down with… At least, not yet.

* * *

**-Valmecha City, 7th District (Lombegas)-**

**-Cruise Liner** **_Steel Ocean Voyager_ ** **-**

**-Ship's Command Bridge-**

**-Mid-day-**

Captain James R. Sagrin sat comfortably in his captain's chair while sipping his usual cup of mid-morning tea. In his hand was a digi-pad that he used to monitor his ship's functions and occasionally give commands. There were no signs of trouble as he sifted through the endless stream of data yet again.

Directly in front of him, on the opposite side of the bridge, was a large, wide-screen holo-monitor that displayed the captured view of the city from the ship's hull mounted cameras. His ship, the  _ Steel Ocean Voyager _ , had been docked in the sky harbor of the Platinum Bolt casino since early last week and it was scheduled to set sail again later tonight.

The captain had spent most of the morning checking and rechecking the flight paths and departure schedules for his vacation ship and was on a sharp lookout for any kind of issues that might interrupt her passengers' holidays. After their departure from the Platinum Bolt, the  _ Steel Ocean Voyager _ would be set on a course for the Olympia Mountain Ranges to enjoy a bit of planetside sightseeing and even mountain climbing for the adventurous. After that it was onward to a three day dock in the city of Kotibu, where the passengers would enjoy a look at one of the most historically rich cities on Fastoon.

He was in the middle of writing out a ship wide memo announcing the necessity of cold weather gear for their next stop to Olympia when he heard the sirens and the pre-recorded voice of Valmecha's seventh district's 'take cover' alarm.

Placing his digi-pad down on a side table, he turned to address his first mate, "Simmons, what's the meaning of this racket?" he demanded, irritated that his peaceful morning had been disturbed.

"I don't rightly know sir," answered Simmons dutifully. "There were no city emergency drills on the schedule, far as I remember."

The captain tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Get on the horn with the fleet manager for Valmecha and see if you can get some information on this. If they lockdown the district for too long, the traffic might build-up and interfere with our departure."

"Aye, aye Captain," acknowledged Simmons with a salute before making his way over to the communication officer's station.

Captain Sagrin eased himself back into his chair before reaching for his tea and digi-pad once more. He wasn't particularly worried for his schedule, as he’d never been late before, but one could never be too careful. After all, he was responsible for this ship and he wouldn't let anything disrupt its mission to bring its passengers to the greatest vacationing hotspots that Fastoon had to offer. He took another sip of his tea as he checked the launch time on his digi-pad's schedule once more. They had plenty of time to sort out this issue though, a whole two minutes.

...

The captain spat out his tea in sudden surprise as he heard himself read the time in his head, drawing concerned looks from the crew as he did so. Sagrin blinked hard at his handheld holo-screen to make sure his eyes were weren't playing tricks on him. He had been sure that their departure time on his digi-pad had been scheduled for late tonight merely a few seconds ago, but here it was, listed plain as day, the departure time set for just two minutes from now.

Quickly the captain opened the schedule's rewrite command and tried to change the time, but the tool window blinked on his screen before disappearing. Captain Sagrin squinted at his digi-pad in confusion as he tried several more times to alter the departure schedule, each attempt ending the same way.

"Is everything alright, Captain?" questioned his first mate.

Captain Sagrin looked up at Simmons and was about to explain the problem when he was cut off by the comm. officer, "Captain!" shouted the robotic crew member wired into the communications station. "Call from engineering. They say the sub-turbines linked to the maneuvering engines have started to spin up on their own!"

"Started on their own?" repeated the captain in disbelief.

He quickly returned to his digi-pad and switched its screen over to the ship status monitor. Sure enough, the icons indicating the ship's sub-turbines, the ones designated for powering the close-turn maneuvering pulsors, were blinking yellow as they charged their energy capacitors.

"Cut power to all sub-turbines," the Captain ordered sternly.

The comm. officer saluted in confirmation, "Aye, Aye Ca-" he began, but was cut off by another voice from the other side of the bridge.

"Captain!" called out a young Lombax urgently. "Docking clamps are disengaging and the gangways are retracting!"

Captain's face turned from one of confusion to horror. If the docking clamps released, the ship would fall. He opened his mouth to order the anti-grav systems be brought online when the communications officer cut him off again,

"Sir, engineering says the bulkheads to the power conduit switches have sealed themselves!" he shouted frantically. "They can't kill the power to the engines!"

There was a sudden lurch downward that was felt by the entire crew as the  _ Steel Ocean Voyager _ 's last docking clamp released and its anti-grav engines took over the task of holding it aloft. 

At first, Captain Sagrin had felt relief that his crew had managed to turn on anti-grav in time... then he remembered that he hadn't ordered the antigrav units be brought online yet. 

The floor and the walls began to vibrate with a soft hum as the main engine reactor at the ship's heart rumbled into life. The captain had flown ships for long enough to know what was going on. The Steel Ocean Voyager was about to set sail.

"That's it!" shouted Captain Sagrin angrily as he bolted up from his chair, spilling his tea and tossing away his useless digi-pad. "Initiate an executive-order emergency shutdown."

There was a brief moment of surprise and concern that passed over the faces of his crew, but it was gone a second later and replaced by one of diligent determination as they each turned to their assigned equipment to follow their orders. The captain then gave a nod to his first mate who returned it with a serious expression before the two of them began walking toward the main control console at the front of the bridge.

In all his years commanding the  _ Steel Ocean Voyager _ , Captain Sagrin had never once needed to initiate an emergency shutdown. It was the highest command order he could give as captain and it would automatically cut all power to every system aboard the ship… including the anti-grav generators. This was almost the same as a death sentence for a ship that spent most of its existence flying through the sky, but at this particular moment, there was a small glimpse of hope. If they could kill the ship's systems before she could leave her docking station, then they would land on the reinforced shelf below and hopefully a bit of hull damage would be would be the worst of it.

As the captain approached the control console, he reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out a red, electronic keycard. He then turned to his left to find his first mate at his side with an identical, but green, keycard in hand. The crew had just finished issuing the alarm for passengers to brace for impact over the cruise ship's P.A. system and now all eyes turned to watch their captain.

As gazes of the crew rested on solely on him, both he and his first mate began to punch in their command authorization codes on separate console keypads. Several seconds later a twin set of confirmation buzzes rang out over the bridge before two red lids popped open from the console, each one guarding the slim rectangular hole of a keycard lock underneath.

The image of the city on the wide-screen holo-monitor disappeared with a flash of light and was replaced by large words reading: 'Emergency Shutdown Sequence Initiated'. After one final look was shared between them, the captain and his first mate slid their cards into place and counted. On the fifth count, they simultaneously turned their cards a full 180 degrees. The moment they did so, the lights on the bridge went out, including the words on the main viewing screen.

Every member of the crew held their breath, even the robotic members who technically didn't have one, as they listened to the sound of computers and console equipment discharge and power down. 

A few seconds later, the whole room was washed with the eerie red glow of the battery-powered emergency lights.

Then… the bottom dropped out of everyone's stomachs as the massive cruise ship fell. Every crew member gripped their seats tightly and fought a sickening feeling that churned in their guts. The  _ Steel Ocean Voyager _ shuddered violently as its massive hull plummeted through the air. Then it stopped so suddenly that a few of the crew were thrown from their seats.

There were some moans and questions of injury, but there was soon calm in the bridge once more. The first mate immediately stood up and checked on the crew that had been dislodged, but the captain got back to his feet with a deep, pensive look on his face. As he watched his subordinates compose themselves with seemingly no major injuries, everything seemed to have gone well, but something just felt off. He had expected the impact to be much more powerful and loud. Something was definitely wrong.

As the crew members recovered, the same thought began to cross their minds as well, but before anyone could raise the question on everyone's minds, the main holo-display flashed back to life again. Displayed at its center, was a fiendish looking, cartoon Lombax face, grinning wickedly. Maniacal laughter shattered the deathly silence as it synthetically cackled from the P.A. system. Then the control systems of the bridge slowly began to come back online.

As each system powered back up, their respective holo-monitors flashed to life with an identical image of the laughing Lombax face on them. Each time one did, the sound of laughter over the speaker system was echoed as if increasing by one more voice. Crew members quickly tried to take control of their consoles, but each one of them found themselves completely locked out. 

In a very short time almost all of the systems were brought back online and not one of them responded to command inputs. The sound of laughter had multiplied itself dozens of times and now filled the room with its incessant mockery. The ship's engine had also come back online and everyone aboard the Steel Ocean Voyager could feel it moving from its dock once again.

Captain Sagrin's face twisted with rage as a he turned to address his crew, "Listen up!" he shouted, his commanding voice cutting cleanly through roar of laughter. "I will not let some hacker or saboteur have this ship. Everyone grab the nearest blunt object you can find and start sma-".

The eardrum-shattering blast of a ship's foghorn crashed through the captain's sentence and flooded the entire cabin with sound. Everyone in the bridge promptly put their hands over their ears for protection. Sparks flew from a few of the robotic crewmen's heads as their sonic receptors overloaded.

Even the stalwart captain was forced to bow his head as pain split his skull and he pressed his hands ever harder to his ears. Forcing one eye open through the discomfort, Captain James R. Sagrin finally realized that he had lost any and all control of his ship. 

However, just as the captain was sure he could feel no more anguish than at that very moment, another thought crossed his mind. Even with the Steel Ocean Voyager's foghorn blasting and the internal speakers of the bridge blaring like they were, it shouldn't have had enough power to shake their very bones like this. Not alone, anyway.

* * *

Officer Ellen Hunter, also known as the Black Hunter of District Ten, sat in the gunner's seat of her beloved EX-49 Prowler. Her partner and brother, Ace Hunter, flew the vehicle with the most skill the Valmechan Guard flight school had seen in the past twenty years. Together they were Valmecha's best pursuit team and they had their eyes squarely on old man Zakon's most wanted target. 

This wasn't the first time that the Hunters had hunted Kaden, though. In fact, several times they had been deployed with express orders to capture the young troublemaker, but every time he either disappeared before they showed up, or escaped using some underhanded tactic. Now their predator class attack vehicle sliced through the air like a shark through water with the scent of fresh blood in its nostrils.

There was, however, another very good reason for their extreme enthusiasm this time. It wasn't public knowledge, but on many top level missions, such as hostage rescues and SWAT team assaults, rewards were sometimes offered personally by high ranking Praetorian officials for exemplary service beyond the usual honorable mentions and medals. These were both an extra incentive for the troops on duty and a way to give a little more back to the valiant officers who handled these exceedingly dangerous operations.

This pursuit mission was one such special mission. Every officer in the Special Tactics and Recon Division was very aware of Guardian Zakon's offer of a full rank promotion, a month's paid vacation plus expenses to district five's artificial beach resort/spa, seats to the VIP table at the upcoming Praetorian ball, and... a year's exclusive access to the slightly oversized locker in the division health club to the team that bagged today's quarry. Ellen was almost salivating as the image of a young Lombax riding a hoverboard grew steadily larger between the crosshairs of her targeting screen and she licked her lips hungrily.

' _ Just a little closer! _ ' she thought eagerly as her mind filled to dreams of a shiny new badge, soft sand under her feet, fine dining with Valmecha's elite, and all of the extra towels she could fit in that locker.

"Hey El..." began Ace hesitantly from the driver's seat.

"Not now!" she hissed in reply. "Just get me a little closer."

As she refocused her mind to task at hand, she noticed that the usually smooth maneuvering of her brother's flying was becoming a bit shaky.

"Ellen!" pressed her brother insistently.

Growling with annoyance, Ellen popped her head up from the Prowler's targeting array, "What!" she barked angrily, but any further conversation was cut short. She had followed her brother's panicked gaze out the front window and had immediately realized what he was talking about.

The noses of dozens of Raksa class skyships began to poke out from the sides of the tall district seven buildings. In the mix were pleasure cruise ships, cargo and supply ships, and even some gargantuan hovering billboard signs. Together they were beginning to form a treacherous maze of clutter in the massive, central sky road which Kaden was blazing straight toward without hesitation. A massive cruise ship loomed out just ahead of him, but he simply shifted his path and he was racing up the ship's side at full speed a second later, before slipping over its top deck and underneath the keel of a cargo ship just above it. 

As if to reiterate how terrifying and treacherous the path ahead had become, all of the ships' fog horns went off simultaneously, filling the air with the harsh, echoing noise that was universally known as a warning for smaller ships that a much larger ship was near and that it would crush anything in its path.

Ace Hunter pulled hard on his Prowler's controls to put as much thrust upwards as he could in an attempt to follow his target over the cruise ship. Like a swarm of birds sensing danger, all of the other Peacekeeper vehicles in pursuit of Kaden scattered in an attempt to avoid collision with the massive walls of steel and titanium that had suddenly appeared before them. Some went down, some went up, and some even slammed on their air-brakes, which caused a few unintentional rear-endings. The chase quickly devolved into a mad scramble by hundreds of hover cars for the few gaps at the top and bottom of each super-ship.

Most of the pursuit units made it around the first ship without a scratch, but as the hundreds of ordinary patrol cars all tried to force their way through the small gap between the limited spaces, many were slammed into one another and a remarkable display of vehicular carnage and destruction ensued, leaving many vehicles smashed into the deck/keel of a ship or simply parked mid-air, having stopped just in time to avoid collision.

This was only the beginning, however. Prowler unit EX-49 weaved over and under ships, billboards, hot dog carts, tables, chairs, trash cans, portable bathrooms and anything else you might expect to have anti-grav capabilities. Ace followed Kaden through the twisted forest of metal, all while his sister kept her face diligently to her targeter and her gun bearing down on her target's back. It was hard for her to keep her aim with all of her brother's twisting acrobatics, but she made do. Kaden was certainly more maneuverable on that board, but it was still only a matter of time before she put a Mag-net around his scrawny, little neck.

Suddenly, the prowler jerked sideways and Ellen hit her face against the targeting console. She growled angrily and brushed hair out of her eyes as she returned to her targeting array and re-found her prey. Again the vehicle jerked and again she was smacked against her equipment. This time she popped up her head to see what was going on.

The prowler had cleared most of the big ships, but just beyond that was a minefield of flying debris. Worse still, however, was that all the flying junk now seemed to be showing signs of a collective consciousness. There was a flash of light and fire as the Prowler to the Hunters' right exploded with half a dozen billboards and chairs jammed into its engine intakes. It spewed flames from its rear and safety foam filled its cockpit as it rapidly lost altitude.

Similar scenes were playing out around them as their predator units were being targeted by any piece of flying debris they came too close to and were quickly brought down under the weight of suicide junk. Ace grit his teeth as he tossed his Prowler left, right, up and down to avoid getting too close to the numerous flying hazards.

Ellen glared darkly at the image of Kaden zipping freely about the quagmire of debris as if it weren’t even there and she knew at once that this was all his doing, "I'm going to need you to give me zero-turb for at least a second and a half," she said simply, without looking at her brother.

Ace grimaced and forced the Prowler into another sharp dive, "Sure… if you want to go up in flames," he balked.

"Can you do it or not?" she demanded, still not looking at him.

Ace shook his head and smiled, "All our life, ever since we were just balls of peach fuzz, when have you not gotten it your way?"

Ellen smiled and ducked back into her gunner seat. As always, she would trust in her brother's flying to get her close, just as he would trust in her skill to make the shot. Ellen pressed her face tightly against her Mag-net cannon scope. She could see Kaden through the veil of airborne debris. He was keeping his distance and not staying still, so the shot would be difficult, but time was running short and it was now or never. After taking a few seconds to line up on her enemy, she followed him as best she could, while controlling her breathing with practiced ease. She cut out any distractions and focused her mind like a laser as she waited for her moment to strike.

"Now!" shouted Ace from somewhere beyond the world that was her targeting screen. 

A moment later the world within it stood perfectly still. No shaking, no juddering, it was turbulence free just as she had asked and the only thing moving now was Kaden. With all the skill her many years of practice and experience granted her, Ellen Hunter put a lead on her target's movements and smiled broadly as she pulled the trigger.

* * *

Kaden felt the impact of something hitting him only for the briefest of moments. The feeling of collision was instead washed away by the rush of pain as electricity wrapped itself around him and lit his nerves on fire. His muscles twitched violently from artificially induced spasms and his board whipped around wildly, sending him zipping through the air like a drunken honey bee. Finally, the shock reached the hoverboard itself and the engine stalled, sending Kaden whistling downward in free fall.

Like hunters having brought down their prey, all of the remaining Prowlers in the sky shifted their noses down and dove after him, concern for the debris around them significantly reduced. 

It was several seconds of pain and singed fur later later that his suit had managed to drain the electric charge of the Mag-net and he was able to rip the electro-spheres from his body. He grit his teeth through the agony as he fought to right himself with the wind whipping his face. Eventually, he managed to shift his board back underneath of him and reignite its engine.

He shook his head after he'd reoriented himself and took a moment to evaluate his situation. He hadn't expected to actually get hit during today's performance, but he supposed that was his own fault for underestimating Valmecha's finest. A quick glance backwards at the swarm of black vehicles rapidly closing in on him told him that things had gone as far as they could in district seven and that it was time to leave.

Leaning backwards and twisting his body skillfully in mid-air, Kaden made a sharp turn and blasted off towards the nearest building. He slipped easily into a narrow alleyway and disappeared from view. The pursuit teams followed him while still trying to avoid the hovering traps that littered the airways.

In the lead was unit EX-49 and it would not be denied its prize. Its pilot took it down the same alleyway without a second thought. Sparks flew as it scrapped its sides against the walls and garbage containers were tossed about as if in the midst of a hurricane as the vehicle blasted its way down the alley.

Elation was flooding through Ellen Hunter's body as she sighted down her targeting screen. Her target was now closer than ever and clearly fleeing in desperation. She lined up another Mag-net shot and fired. The small grouping of electro-spheres burst from the nose-mounted cannon and blazed a bright blue trail of lightning through the air. Kaden jerked his board to the side the moment he heard the shot, snatching up a metal garbage as he did so, before tossing it in the air behind him. The flashing Mag-net that was chasing him ran right into it and wrapped itself around the can instead.

It was clear to Ellen that the same trick wasn't going to work again, "Fine," she said aloud with a wry smile. "Then try this on for size."

The sound of gunfire rattled through the air in the narrow alley, even over the sound of jet engines. Kaden could see flashes of light and sparks as they jumped in front of him from the impact of missed shots as he flung himself about in a desperate attempt to avoid them. Despite his efforts however, several rounds struck him with bone juddering thwacks, but they didn't penetrate. What the Prowler's roof-mounted repression rifle was shooting at him were stun rounds, balls of plastic polymer that exploded on impact to stun their targets with concussive force. Even with the duck and cover alarm in effect, the Guard officers couldn't risk using lethal force this close to civilian residency or for someone who technically wasn't a violent criminal.

The stun rounds were plenty effective, however. Two of them struck Kaden's back and one hit his arm. Even through his armor he had felt the powerful sting of the shots. They knocked the air from his lungs and his arm was now almost completely numb. Kaden knew that one more hit to a vital spot would probably drop him. 

Kaden reached the intersection of another alleyway. Very suddenly he pulled up on his board, stopping on a dime, before turning a full ninety degrees and jetting off down another alley perpendicular to the first one. As he sped away from the first alley, he let out a sigh of relief. He knew that the Prowler was much too long to make such a small turn and wouldn't be able to follow him immediately.

But Ace, having watched Kaden break off down the side alley, refused to back down now. He shoved the flight control all the way forward and forced the nose of the Prowler straight into the ground. The front of the vehicle was chewed up like meat through a grinder, but the rear of the vehicle was rapidly brought straight up into the air. Retro rockets fired on the roof as well and the Prowler eventually ground to a halt in center of the intersection, completely vertical. Ace then blew the anti-rocket flares that were mounted on the side-rear of his vehicle. The force of the blasts knocked the Prowler over like a tree and it landed roughly on its side with its nose pointed in the direction Kaden had gone. With a loud bang, its main engine reignited a second later and the black predator unit tore off sideways down the second alley in pursuit.

Kaden heard the roar of a heavy rocket engine down the alley and turned to in surprise to see the enemy Guard unit still on his tail. Quickly he kicked up his hoverboard's output to full, but he knew it was nowhere near enough to outpace his pursuer.

Ellen Hunter sat unflinching in her chair, parallel with the ground. Her one hand was latched firmly on the support handle bolted into the now vertical ceiling and in the other she stubbornly held the control stick to her targeting system. She quickly readjusted herself to the odd sense of vertigo and put the cross-hairs back over her target.

Kaden was still nearly a hundred meters away, but that was well within range of the Prowler's heavy, non-lethal weapon. Mounted on the underside of the vehicle was a long cannon barrel that was loaded with a single shot. That shot held hundreds of super-electrically conductive metal spikes. Once fired, it would erupt into a storm of metal shards and electricity. The spikes would then bite into their target shallow enough as not to kill them, but deep enough to deliver the accompanying electric charge straight into their body. This was it, there was nowhere left for Kaden to run and no way for him to dodge her next attack as he sat helplessly positioned between her crosshairs. She had him now.

At that very moment, an old woman, dressed in oversized, brightly colored robes, stepped out into the alley through a random doorway and crossed right between Kaden and his pursuers. Ellen caught her breath in surprise and hesitated on the trigger just in time to stop herself from shooting the civilian. Ace gasped as he realized that they were seconds away from colliding with her. He pulled hard on his controls instinctively. The Prowler's nose swung upwards and the vehicle just barely missed hitting the old women. However, the sudden maneuver forced it to scrape hard against the walls and smash through several signs and small walkways that were built just above them.

Sparks lit up the entire alleyway and even Ace's incredible piloting skills couldn't retake control of his machine. The Prowler flipped end over end several times. During one of those times it slammed into the ground so hard that it activated the emergency air foam before skipping back into the air.

* * *

Ellen and Ace Hunter couldn't see or hear anything as they were submerged in white, cushiony foam. All they felt of next several impacts with the ground, as their Prowler continued to tumble down the alley, was a muffled thud. Almost all of the impacts' impressive energy was being absorbed by the protective material. Eventually, the crashing vehicle came to a screeching halt in the alleyway. Inside their foam tombs, the high concentration of carbon dioxide from Ace and Ellen's breathing reacted with one of the foam's compounds, both releasing oxygen for them to breathe and beginning the process of melting away their protective shell.

* * *

Several minutes later, the foam coating broke over Ellen's head and she inhaled deeply, relieved to finally have non-recycled air once more. As she took her fill, however, her mind switched from concern for the crash to rage as she realized that Kaden was nowhere to be found. As she swept the area in search of him, she spotted the old woman that they had almost hit, still standing there, some distance away.

Ace's head popped out of the foamy quagmire, just in time to watch his sister hastily strain against the foam for her freedom. It didn't take more than a simple look at what her rage filled gaze was pointing for her brother to know exactly what she was thinking.

"Ellen, no!" he said with concern in his eyes for what his sister might do. "She's just some old lady. That's probably someone's grandmother. Imagine if that was Nana."

Ellen didn't pay her brother any attention at all, though. Her mind was focused on the one thing that had prevented her victory. With one last hard yank of her leg, she was free and a second later she was stomping off towards the hunched over figure in the distance. She walked right passed her squirming brother and put her hand over her holstered pistol. Ace tried his hardest to escape the foam, but the white, protective, half-goo like substance still held him fast.

"Hey you!" Ellen shouted angrily down the alleyway as she approached the shambling old Lombax with its back turned. They froze at the sound of her voice. "Don't you know there's a ‘take cover’ alert in effect!?" she demanded, growing angrier with each step. "What in council’s blasted name are you doing out here? Do you even know what you just did?"

Ellen was within arm's reach of the woman a moment later. After receiving no response from the stranger, her anger grew even further, causing her to draw her pistol reflexively. She reached out and grabbed the person's shoulder before spinning them around. Then her mouth dropped. 

From a distance, the shambling finger had looked identical to an elderly Lombax woman, wrapped in a shawl. Up close however, Ellen could clearly see that skin and fur of the person's face was artificial. An imitation, plastered upon a low-grade android.

As she stared at the thing with eyes wide, its mouth twisted into a wide grin and its eyes slanted wickedly. Then it began to laugh... 

The noise that emanated from the fake Lombax struck a nerve in Ellen's mind with the force of an electric shock. It was the same laugh she had heard when her targeting system was hacked the last time she'd hunted Kaden.

Her body shook with rage as realization dawned over her and she placed the barrel of her gun on the robot's forehead a second later. The bang of the shot rang out across the alleyway, followed closely by the crash of a body hitting the ground.

"What did you do!" shouted Ace as he froze in his tracks about halfway between the crash site and where Ellen stood, having been unable to reach her in time. "How could you?!"

The sound of her brother's cries had an odd calming effect on Ellen. She then realized what it must have looked like to him and immediately opened her mouth to explain, but then stopped as she watched him fall to his knees and put his face into his hands. ' _ It could wait, _ ' she thought sadistically as she turned away and reached up to activate her communicator. She had to report what had happened as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kotibu - is a great city known worldwide for its history and historical sites, like Rome, Paris, and London.  
> Raksa - is a class of sub-atmospheric ships that comes from the word ‘raksasa’ which means gargantuan in Indonesian.


	3. A Sticky Situation

"I see," said Guardian Zakon to the intercom on his desk, "and what is the current status of the target?"

The voice of Ellen Hunter answered him a moment later through his desk intercom, "The target is moving through back alleyways in District Seven and appears to be heading in the direction of District Three."

Zakon listened to her answer tentatively, but he could also hear some kind of strange noise in the background. It almost sounded like someone sobbing, but he didn't have time to worry about unimportant things.

"Very well, return to HQ and get yourselves to medical," Zakon ordered, "I'll ensure that the troops stationed in District Three are prepared for company."

"Yes sir," responded Ellen dutifully before adding, "I'm sorry we lost sir."

Zakon let out a short sigh before he replied back, "You did your duty, lieutenant. That is all that I can ask of you."

"Yes, sir!" finished Ellen.

Zakon reached for the channel switch, but as he did the sound of sobbing stopped and a new, male voice could be heard over the intercom, "Hey…" it began in surprise. "Th-this is a robot. You were just going to let me-"

Zakon cut off the channel, as he didn't have time for anything but the task at hand. Instead, he switched to his assistant's channel, "Daria," he began formally, "get me the council head of District Three and the dispatch forms for weapons authorization, they’ll be putting down a riot soon."

* * *

There was a rapid drop in ambient light as Kaden reached the end of tunnel leading from Seventh District into the Third District. This back skyroad he’d taken had deposited him underneath the Third District’s famous market streets.

This area below was mostly for heavy purchases like construction equipment or corporate bulk deals. Up above was where the average shopper spent their time and that was where he was headed. The market place plaza above was a massive outdoor shopping center built above the original Third District buildings. To anyone traversing the streets, it would have seemed like they were walking through a suburban shopping town on the planet's surface, surrounded by buildings no more than a few stories tall.

Spotting an opening above him, Kaden leaned back on his board and was sent rocketing up and out of the lower levels. Like a volcano of sound, he erupted through an open cargo gate in the floor of the plaza street. Hundreds of shopping Lombaxes and robotic citizens turned in surprise at the sudden roar of noise.

For miles around him the plaza stretched, populated only by small, land-bound transports and walking pedestrians. He, like most citizens, had spent a lot of time down on the plaza floor. Moving from shop to shop and/or purchasing various items was an almost daily routine for most.

The Third District shopping plaza was one of the few parts of Valmecha completely open to the elements. Flying civilian vehicles had even been forbidden by the district council for reasons of ambiance. As Kaden soared over the same ground that everyone else was bound to, he was given a sense of freedom that was almost overwhelming. It never failed to invigorate him… no matter how many dozens of times he did it.

Just then, the speaker system of the plaza buzzed into life and announced that all shoppers were to take shelter within the nearest store until the all clear was given by the Praetorian Guard.

The Lombaxes who’d, until now, been giving Kaden looks of confusion and curiosity, changed their expressions to ones of panicked worry. Kaden then watched as countless numbers of citizens rushed off the plaza floor and into the nearest building. Within seconds he was jetting over a completely deserted shopping sector.

As Kaden continued to zip through the sky without a care, he took a moment to re-verify his current route. His NID system had mapped out the quickest way to his destination, but it led him straight past a Guard precinct, which was fine by him considering his true goal. As he turned the corner toward it, however, he immediately had second thoughts.

Whole squads of Praetorian Guards in riot gear were swarming out onto the street in front of their precinct, accompanied by several wheeled riot tanks. It was clear that they were expecting trouble and were prepared to face it.

Kaden was so surprised by the rapidness of the Guard’s deployment that he hesitated a second too long, long enough for a trooper to spot him, point, and shout ‘open fire’.

Every Peacekeeper in range seemed to turn in unison and opened fire with practiced precision. Quickly, Kaden pulled up on his board and started heading back the way he’d come, but had been too slow and the barrage of riot suppression rounds engulfed him.

Each shot fired from the Guards’ suppression rifles was a small, green cylinder about the size of a finger. Inside was a substance similar to the air foam that was used to protect passengers in vehicle crashes, but had more of a gel-like texture that was designed not to release its hold as easily.

Kaden swerved left and right in a desperate attempt to throw off their aim and was, for the most part, successful. The weapons were designed for suppressing crowds on the ground, not nimble airborne targets on hoverboards.

Some shots did find their mark, however, but, as the small cylinders exploded on impact and the wads of material inside them expanded rapidly, it created too much aerodynamic drag. Before the gelatinous matter could get a good hold on Kaden or his board and expand further, it was ripped off by the friction, leaving only a tiny coat of gelatin behind.

It seemed that Kaden would get out of this almost spotless. That was... until the riot tanks opened up.

Each tank fired a single, large canister that exploded mid-air into a hundred of the regular sized riot shots.

Kaden felt like he was suddenly caught in a rainstorm without an umbrella, and his body was soon covered in rapidly growing, green pustules of foam-gel. Most were torn off by the air as he blazed out of weapons range, but several shots had hit his board and they were beginning to clog his engine intake.

The terrible sound of intermittent thruster bursts reached Kaden's ears alongside a series of short drops in his altitude and velocity. As the foam continued to expand, it would soon overwhelm the hoverboard's engine and so, Kaden was left with no choice but to land.

The horrible sound of metal grinding against concrete filled the streets as he skated across the concrete ground. Finally, the young Lombax came to halt and quickly disengaged his leg clamps. The ground under his feet was rumbling from the force of the rolling riot tanks and the boot stomps of an entire company of officers in riot gear moving toward him as quickly as possible.

Kaden was still covered in a film of sticky goo, but he himself was no worse for wear. He then picked up his board and examined the damage.

His engine was completely clogged with green goop and he growled irritably at the sight. He had not expected to get shot out of the sky by riot gel. He did, however, have a special chemical he'd designed to dissolve the green material, but he didn't have the time to apply it now. Just a few hundred meters away, a solid wall of glowing riot shields steadily marched its way towards him. Behind it, the turrets of a half-dozen riot tanks were aimed high into the air. After their gunners finished plotting the trajectory of their shots, the horizon was lit up with the flash of their gun barrels.

Kaden's eyes widened and he spun around to face the opposite direction. No Lombax could escape from the storm of incoming shells on foot, but luckily Kaden had more than one mode of transportation he could use. With the soft whine of charging ion coils, Kaden's hoverboots roared into life and he was sent speeding away from his enemies a moment later on twin trails of plasmic fire.

The young Lombax just barely managed to clear the strike zone as hundreds of gel filled capsules struck the ground and erupted into growing, green blobs like some demonic hailstorm. As if to emphasize how close the shave had been, Kaden glanced back to find a large bubble of green gel inflating on the tip of his tail. This made him frown, but the important thing was that he was safe, if a little sticky. Now the only thing he had to worry about was…

As if on cue, the sound of a Gatling style cannon spinning up reached Kaden’s ears the moment he'd crossed the next intersection. Lying in wait in the next street was a PC-178 riot suppression hovertank, nicknamed 'The Party Crasher'. Kaden's next mental command was so drowned in emotional urgency that his NID almost didn't recognize it. The jets of flame beneath his feat doubled in size as his poured on the afterburners. He was pushed out of the gun's line of fire mere milliseconds before a stream of riot rounds ripped through the air he would have been hovering in otherwise. The main gun then stitched a line of green blobs across ground in his wake.

As if yelling in anger at having missed its target, The Party Crasher tank's hoverjets roared thunderously with power, launching the large vehicle up into the air and clear over the tops of the nearest buildings. It chased Kaden down the street as he maneuvered skillfully out of its gun's firing path.

The nimble Lombax juked left and right violently as he tried to throw off the tank's aim, jetting over parked vehicles and sales carts as he did. A beep sounded in his ear, warning him that a foreign targeting system had locked onto his signature. A second later he dove under a large eating table out front of a sealed restaurant, curling up tightly just as the boom of a scatter cannon echoed through the air.

A single, large canister, the same weapon fired by riot tanks, burst in mid-air and scattered into a hundred tiny riot rounds, cluster bombing the area and painting an outline of a table on the ground around Kaden.

The Party Crasher zoomed over his head as its momentum carried it forward. With only a few seconds to come up with a plan before the hovering weapons platform managed to turn back around, Kaden looked around desperately for a place to hide.

There was an opening to an indoor strip mall nearby. It was not ideal, but it was the best he could do in this situation and he blasted out from under the table a moment later.

The Party Crasher managed to bring its gun back around before he'd reached safety and opened fire again, but it wasn’t able to land a hit before it lost its target once more.

Kaden was several meters down the mall aisle with his back against a stone pillar when the tank came down to the ground level and swept its scanners across the building’s entrance. Thanks to the pillar, however, it could find no trace of him, so it flew off into the sky to cover the area in case he tried to escape.

Letting out the massive breath of air that he'd been holding, Kaden slid down the stone column until he'd reached the floor and took a much needed moment to relax. He had been up all of the previous night and had been moving non-stop since he'd left the Stratus Beacon with all the insane flying he's had to do to avoid getting caught. Add to that getting shot/shocked by that crazy pursuit team then ‘this’, and you've got yourself one exhausted Lombax.

After he'd caught his breath, he reached into his storage pack and pulled out a bottle of water before sticking it in his mouth and chugging it down thirstily. He knew he only had a minute or so before the Guardsmen on foot reached the building and he still needed de-clog his hoverboard. Time was not in his favor.

As he cycled through different scenarios in his mind, a bright flash of light went off to his side. Kaden looked around in confusion and found that he was sitting in the entrance to a food court. Just inside the court itself was a wall of tables, flipped on their end to make a barrier.

Peeking over some of those tables were the heads of several Lombax civilians. They had all clearly hidden in the large room when the 'take cover' order had been issued, but were curious to see what was going on after hearing nearby shots and movement just over their barrier.

Among them was one young Lombax who was holding a holo-camera and pointing it directly at Kaden. He stared at the boy who had taken the photo, but instead of showing fear or anger as any criminal on the run from the Guard might, the young Lombax simply smiled awkwardly and waved to show he meant no harm.

"Hi Kaden!" shouted the boy happily. Kaden winced at the sudden noise, knowing that it would draw any Guardsmen within earshot.

He put his finger up to his lips to silence them, but wasn't surprised by their lack of concern. The masked criminal referred to as Kaden by the Praetorian Guard was a well-known figure throughout the city of Valmecha. It was even more so in Kaden's school where everyone believed, correctly as it turned out, that he was in fact that same masked criminal. There was even some kind of holo-net site that kept track of his raucous escapades. This made him somewhat of a celebrity.

Kaden hated such attention, or at least that’s what he believed. His friends, Sorana and Alister, on the other hand, often pointed out his show-offy attitude and called him hypocritical whenever he complained about it.

Regardless of his like/dislike for his fame, seeing the civilian Lombaxes had given him an idea. He reached into his backpack and removed a small, soft-plastic tube. He then crushed it in his hands to break the internal barriers between the chemicals inside and shook it to mix them together while several onlookers watched. The vials began to glow as the reaction began and after waiting a moment to let it settle, Kaden ripped open the tube and poured the chemical into the various clogged orifices of his hoverboard. Soon the liquid would dissolve any riot gel it came into contact with, but it would take a few minutes or so to complete.

Kaden then stood up with his board in hand and walked toward the table barricade. Many of the Lombaxes that had been watching quickly ducked from view and slipped away, while a couple simply continued to watch with fascination. With one great heave, Kaden tossed his board over the tables. It flew across the empty floor before skating to a halt on the far side of the room. There was another flash as the boy with the camera snapped a shot of the hoverboard.

"Don't touch it," ordered Kaden, loud enough for everyone to hear and making several of the civilians jump in surprise, "or it'll explode," he added ominously.

Then, with a simple nod of his head, he turned and tore off down the hallway, running deeper into the mall and leaving the dozens of civilians to stare at his board with concern. Then, many of them turned to look at the deeply curious looks on the younger Lombaxes' faces and began to feel even more concern.

* * *

Riot squad four moved cautiously through the dark hallways of the strip mall in search of their quarry. The lights in this part of the mall had been cut and the area was covered in darkness. The ‘take cover’ alert did not say anything about cutting power to lights, so each officer knew that this was likely the work of their target.

The tactical riot squad consisted of seven members, who were all equipped with the same load out, but only four of them kept their shields deployed while the other three held their riot rifles at the ready. When un-deployed, a riot shield was actually just a small, handheld panel that would project an energy barrier when activated. Needing one hand for the shield panel, the troops who had their shields up couldn't hold a two-handed weapon like a rifle, so instead they held their pistols at the ready, which also fired the same gelatinous, non-lethal suppressing agent as their rifles.

All of the Guardsmen of squad four were veteran officers who had seen the very worst of what civilian riots could do. They had all fought together during the great Red Tuesday sales riots. A horrible PR fiasco that they’d only managed to end after nearly five whole blocks of retail property had burnt to the ground.

In fact, their current search and clear mission reminded them all of the terrifying 'Find the Golden Easter Egg in District Three' shopping event that saw their very own precinct brought under siege with protesters chanting various claims that the Guardsmen themselves were hiding the prize within.

Clearing buildings and fighting angry mobs was all just part of the job for a riot officer of district three and they'd each known that when they’d signed up for the job, but none of them had ever expected to face this situation. Their target now was not a bunch of crazed civilians or protesting activists. Instead, they were hunting a single target that was famous for giving the Guard an extreme headache and putting officers in the hospital. Still, they pushed on undaunted. They were members of the Praetorian Guard and doing their duty was their only objective.

They all stopped as the sound of scraping echoed down the hall. The members of the riot squad held their ground, with their weapons at the ready, as they listened intently to the sounds in the distance. With a nod from the squad leader, all seven of them began to move toward it in practiced formation.

Their strip of mall eventually ran across another strip and the moment they entered the intersection, the noise stopped. Again the squad froze and waited, scanning the area with the beams of their illuminators, but there was nothing to be found. It was a long few seconds later, but after detecting nothing, the squad leader gave the command to move out again.

However, just as their shields were raised to move, there was a flash of reflected light in the darkness and a nearby popcorn cart exploded in a shower of glass, metal, and tasty, buttery treats.

All guns were reflexively drawn to the disruption, but they held their fire until they could confirm their target. The squad leader was about to order the squad to investigate, when the glint of metal was seen again. This time, an Omniwrench flew from the darkness, struck one of their riot shields with an echoing thud, and then ricocheted back into the black veil.

This time, the officers didn't hesitate to open fire. The flare of gunshots lit up the darkness with rapid flashes of light as dozens of rounds of gel-filled cartridges were flung into the unknown.

Even as they continued to shoot, the wrench came at them again, this time from behind. It almost struck an unshielded officer in the head, but they had managed to dodge it at the last moment before it sailed off into the darkness once more. Half the squad then turned to fire in the new direction while the others kept their eyes peeled on their six. As the squad defended itself, one member noticed an odd sensation of heat coming from his waist. Not wanting to turn from the battle too long, he quickly glanced toward his hip and found that one of the riot grenades on his belt was glowing.

Kaden stood magnetically locked to the ceiling above his opponents as he guided his wrench around the room with the advanced grav-manipulators that he'd designed. While most standard combat Omniwrenches had grav-manipulators in them which allowed them to be thrown and return to their owners, Kaden had always thought that it was a dull and underutilized application of the technology. He used his wrench's upgraded ability to attack the riot officers without ever being on the ground while simultaneously aiming his shoulder mounted laser.

The laser beam that his device emitted was invisible to the Lombax eye, but his helmet's photoreceptors showed the bright, glowing line of ultraviolet photons as clear as the sun on his visor. He had kept it steadily aimed at one of the Guards' belt-mounted grenades and had used his wrench to keep them from moving out of his laser's range. After nearly a minute of intense heat from his laser, the small metal canister was beginning to glow red. Just before the temperature scale on his visor reached critical, the Guard attached to the explosive noticed the situation.

 _'Too late,'_  thought Kaden as the grenade exploded with a resounding ‘thoom’ and an eruption of green goo enveloped the squad in an instant.

* * *

After nearly half an hour of playing tag with the legion of riot officers swarming the mall, Kaden had finally been pushed into a corner. He ran up the final flight of stairs and burst out onto the roof as a battle song of boot steps and officers shouting orders followed him. He ran to the edge of the roof and looked down at the steep drop. From this height he could probably use his hoverboots to glide over to the building across the street, but doing so would make him an easy target as he slowly floated through the air.

As he weighed the option, the unmistakable sound of The Party Crasher's jets filled the air and the hulking riot tank flew down and took position in front of him, its gun spinning and ready to fire at a moment's notice. The sound of footsteps joined the shriek of jets a moment later as dozens of riot Guards poured from the roof entrance. Immediately the officers formed a two man thick, circular wall around him with the Guards in front holding up a riot shield and the ones in back training their rifles on him.

"You're surrounded," shouted the voice of an officer over a helmet-embedded megaphone. "Lay down your arms and gadgets or you will be taken by excessive force."

Kaden looked around at the array of weaponry pointed at him and the steep drop toward the concrete below. It appeared that his only options were to surrender and be captured, get shot with gel and be captured, or jump from a very high building, break his legs and then get captured. At least, that's how it looked to everyone but Kaden himself.

With a devious smile that caused every Guard present to tense their trigger finger, Kaden took a single step back and fell from the roof of the mall.

* * *

"Don't you dare touch it!" barked the father of the young boy who had been slowly inching his way toward Kaden's hoverboard.

Ever since Kaden had thrown his board into the food court, a rift had grown between the civilians who had taken shelter there. One group had believed that they should all leave the food court, fearing that Kaden's warning was real and that the thing could explode, but that would also mean breaking the 'take cover' order. Another group, conversely, wanted to hide the device, believing that it was something important to a criminal and that his warning was simply a bluff to ensure no one touches it while he evades the guard.

While these two groups had argued, a third group had emerged. This group was composed of all the young Lombaxes in the court, all of whom were, at first, simply curious about the device.

As the adults had argued over what to do, the group of youngsters had slowly crept their way closer to the flight vehicle. Every one of them had immediately recognized Kaden's famous hoverboard, the one he was always depicted riding in the news photos and now that they had gotten a closer look, they wanted it.

That had been the moment when the man had realized his son was about to touch the board and had yelled for him to stop. That shout had silenced all of the adults and frozen all of the children. Everyone turned to watch the one young boy who was a mere foot away from laying a hand on it. The boy eyed the board with longing, wondering if he could be as cool as Kaden if he could fly around on that board. He was sure that it wasn't a bomb. It was obviously just a heavily modified hoverboard and besides, Kaden wasn't famous for injuring civilians.

Even with his father's warnings, the boy began to slowly reach for the board again. His father didn't issue another order, because had been in the group that wanted to remove the board, but now that his son was the one in danger, he was torn.

Many of the other Lombaxes quickly backed as far away as possible for fear of the possible explosion, but they too were secretly curious about what would happen next. Everyone in the room took a deep breath and the boy himself swallowed hard as his hand trembled a mere inch from the board's surface. He closed his eyes and then, he touched it.

Nothing happened.

As one entity, every person in the room let out their held breath and smiled in relief. But then, a second later, the ion drive on the hoverboard started up with a deep hum and everyone in the room immediately lost their fur.

Tables were thrown and people screamed in panic as they desperately tried to dismantle or hop over the impromptu barrier they'd made. Other's leapt over the counters of various food distributors for safety, including one overweight boy who smashed out an ice cream counter with the intention of filling his last moments with tasty, sugar loaded, frozen dairy.

With a roar of ionized gas and a flash of fire, the board burned through the last of chemical residue within it and blasted upward like a bottle rocket. It then made a sharp curve mid-air, veering away from hitting the ceiling before smashing its way out of the stained-glass food court window, leaving a scorched, young Lombax in its wake.

* * *

As Kaden plummeted to the ground, the riot Guards all broke formation and ran to the roof's edge in surprise. The Party Crasher followed his fall with its guns, expecting him to use his hoverboots to slow himself, but he did not.

Suddenly, as he crossed the threshold of the second floor, the large window behind him shattered in a brilliant explosion of glass, revealing the vaulted ceilinged room of the food court behind it. Through the sparkling storm of shards, Kaden's hoverboard sped toward him and slid under his feet with calculated precision. Leg clamps redeployed instantly and the board brought him to a complete stop just before he hit the ground.

The Party Crasher didn't hesitate, it opened fire the moment its gunner realized what was going on, but the trail of riot rounds never touched the Lombax. Instead, they struck one of two newly deployed riot shields that he held firmly in each hand.

Kaden had stolen them from the various Guards he'd attacked, knowing he'd need them to escape the district. His hoverboard's rockets flared brightly as it linked with his NID and registered his neural command and he was off a moment later, blazing a trail of fire through the sky before the final piece of glass had hit the ground.

The Party Crasher gave chase, but it being a tank and not a Predator class vehicle, Kaden was easily able to outpace it. And, with the shields he'd stolen held behind him, not even its scatter cannon could slow him down.

Several hundred shots later, Kaden’s shields were getting heavily laden with goo. This was no problem, however, as Kaden had stolen several more. He tossed one shield away and quickly activated a new one before tossing away the second one and replacing it as well.

At this rate Kaden was clearly going to escape the Third District. In a last ditch effort to stop him, The Party Crasher fired its homing missiles. A pair of metal cylinders burst from their storage tubes and shrieked into the air before speeding off in pursuit of their target.

Kaden looked back and felt a jolt of surprise when he saw the twin missile top cones pointing straight at him. He turned back around and laid on some extra speed, knowing he only needed to reach the open cargo gate in the ground that was a relatively short distance away to escape them.

As he raced toward freedom, another PC-178 riot tank emerged from its hiding spot to intercept him. It unleashed a brutal salvo of shells the moment its target was within range, but just like the last one, its shots were absorbed by Kaden's riot shields.

Kaden blew past the hover tank easily and made a beeline for the open cargo gate, ignoring the enemy vehicle almost completely. As he made his approach however, he noticed that the gate was beginning to close slowly, but he wasn't concerned. Even from this distance he could see that he would make it through the gate and hopefully the missiles would simply smash against it as it shut behind him.

Kaden began mentally calculating the missiles speed relative to the gate's closing rate in order to find the perfect timing, but was then rudely interrupted when a loud boom echoed from behind him. Kaden spun his head back around to see what had caused it and found, to both his shock and amusement, that the second Party Crasher had tried to chase him too. But, having failed to notice the missiles fired by the first in the tank operators’ blind desire to pursue their target, the hover tank had placed itself right in the missile's path and taken a direct hit from two, gel-filled torpedoes.

Like some monstrous green slug, the capture gel climbed over the tank's head and began to consume it whole. Kaden then heard the familiar sound of engine thrusters choking on rapidly clogging air intakes and within moments the hulking vehicle was falling towards him almost completely out of control. He laughed at the irony and turned back around to face the gate, but found, to his surprise that it had stopped closing. Clearly someone had realized that closing it would only prevent anyone from pursuing him and had started to reverse the process.

While at first Kaden was upset that he wouldn’t get to play out this cliche, he was then struck by inspiration.

Aiming his right arm toward the beleaguered tank, he fired his Swingshot grappling hook into its hull. The armor of the hover tank was too tough to penetrate with a Swingshot, but the goo barrier that coated it acted as an adhesive and held the grappling hook in place. Kaden then turned up the power on his board and began towing the distraught hover tank behind him.

Like a child with an oversized green balloon, Kaden made his way through the half-opened gateway. Following right behind him, the Party Crasher was wedged into the gate's still too small opening. The sticky green goo that coated its hull quickly latched onto the gate’s door as it continued to expand, jamming it in place and sealing it completely.

Stopping to admire his work for a minute, Kaden watched as the green goo creeped its way across the ceiling of district three's under belly to form a complete and solid seal. He then popped the grappling hook wire out of his Swingshot and smacked his hands together at the completion of a job well done. Now there was only one stop left on his big, final tour of Valmecha and that meant that it was hopefully time for the finale. He just hoped that old Lexi had gotten his invitation.

* * *

Guardian Alexi Zakon stood staring out the window of his office, which overlooked the Praetorian Guard Memorial Park. The park was an artificial imitation of the planet's surface, rebuilt in the towering heights of the city. Its wide open spaces allowed him to see a much wider view of the city's landscape. As he had done countless times while chasing countless criminals, Zakon looked out over this view and racked his mind to figure out what his enemy was planning. And, as he did so, his mind drifted back to the first time he’d come into contact with the criminal ‘Kaden’.

It had been nearly four years since he'd first laid eyes on the case that would lead him to the young Lombax known as Kaden. Zakon remembered that time well and he hadn't slept a comfortable night since.

At first look, the case had appeared to be a simple incident of vandalism. Someone had snuck into a construction yard and stolen a demo-mech from District 12, the industrial sector, and crashed it. No suspects were seen at the crash site when it was reported.

It wasn't uncommon for the sub-level gang kids to try and steal industrial equipment, they often used it to scare their rival gangs. It was foolish for sure, most industrial equipment was made for heavy lifting and was usually very slow, no real threat to anyone with the ability to walk at an average pace, but they did make a terrifying sight. Looks were what those kinds of kids were all about after-all.

However, even a quick glance at the case raised red flags with him. No gang had ever successfully stolen a full demo-mech before. Something of that size and price always had someone keeping tabs on it. Twice, in Zakon's lifetime, criminals had attempted it, but the moment the thing went active its owner would get an alert and Praetorian Guards would be at its GPS coordinates within minutes. However, there had been no other reports of a missing mech by any industrial firm anywhere in the city or its outskirts.

Zakon had only been brought the case at all when the department who had jurisdiction over it found that the mech had been armed with a rocket pod and a chaingun. That made the case a matter of Valmechan security and a baffling one at that. Who could smuggle an armed, three story tall, industrial robot into the 12th district? Even more baffling was, who would then crash it and just leave it behind?

For weeks the case turned up no leads and Zakon was at the point of turning it cold when a member of the forensics division realized something. They brought to his attention that very few of the serial numbers on the mech's individual parts matched any single design schematics. It was as if the war machine had been built from random spare parts.

With this information, Zakon got a hunch that it may have been salvaged from a scrap yard and sure enough, a trip by Zakon himself to the closest junkyard in the vicinity of the crash site yielded their very first lead.

Zakon recalled meeting the rather overweight and rude junkyard manager and of being told about a strange young boy who'd been showing up to his yard recently. This boy being the closest thing to a lead he’d had since getting the case, Zakon asked the man to elaborate further.

At first the manager had simply removed the lad and then threatened to have the Guard come pick him up. Then one day the manager went to his office to 'work' and found that the whole place had been completely rewired.

Every broken electronic device, faulty power switch, and even the wide-display holo-screen that had recently shorted out were found to be working again. The manger was amazed, but obviously suspicious of how it had happened, but could find no immediate answers.

Then one night he had seen lights flickering in one of his garages from his office window and went to investigate. There he found the same young boy doing repair work on the building's electrical systems. He even had a couple of old contractor bots that had been salvaged and repaired from the scrap heaps helping him.

At first, the manager had angrily demanded to know what the boy was doing in his shop, to which the young Lombax, covered in grease and singed fur, explained, seemingly oblivious to his crimes of trespass and theft, that he was fixing the building's electronics.

When the manager then asked why, the boy simply looked up at the man in confusion as if the answer were obvious and said, "Because it's broken."

Zakon remembered the junkyard manager laughing as he recounted the confrontation. Seeing a lead at last to his case, Zakon asked for information on the boy. The manager had told him that he couldn't remember the boy's last name, but that his first name was supposedly Kaden.

Zakon's hopes of at last finding his target had then been dashed, however, as the manager then explained that the boy was only twelve or thirteen years old. The forensics team had said that the mech's parts had been immaculately restored. No kid barely hitting Alpha puberty could have rebuilt it from garbage at a junkyard.

But, thinking that the boy must have been delivering the parts to whomever had taught him how to repair the manager's electrical wiring, Zakon had ordered an officer to stakeout the junkyard. Several days later the Guardian of Valmecha got a transmission from the officer on duty, saying that he'd spotted a boy matching the manager's description entering the junkyard. Fearing that the boy may have been working for someone dangerous, Zakon had ordered that he be taken in immediately.

Eight highly trained Praetorian Guardsmen and over two dozen Peacekeeper androids scoured that junkyard in search of the boy… and not a single one of them came out in one piece. Zakon recalled sitting at the hospital bed of one of those officers shortly after their surgery to have an old robotic hamster with upgraded jaw servos removed from their hindquarters. The officer had told him about the horrifying experience, where piles of junk would suddenly come to life and attack without warning. To top it off, not a single one had spotted the boy while searching.

Infuriated, Guardian Zakon had ordered a baxhunt and for the next month he received constant reports of sightings that were then usually followed by reports of officers either getting ambushed by mechanical beings or their equipment going haywire, causing them to lose their target. This was how the rumors of the uncatchable criminal named ‘Kaden’ began.

Meanwhile, back at the office, every child with the name Kaden from any lower or mid-level schools in the city had been investigated without a single one of them showing any signs of being his culprit.

A break in the case eventually came when they expanded their search to the high-level schools and began investigating the Kadens of Valmecha's elites. Investigating the children of the most powerful families in the city came with many extra hurdles, but there was one child that stuck out from the rest, a child that had earned entrance to the highest ranking school in the city with intellectual ability alone.

With a hefty disciplinary record from his younger days and no family in the governmental structure of the city, he was the first and last child to be investigated in the case. Just as when officers tried pursuing the ghost Lombax in the lower levels, anytime an officer tried to monitor this 'Kaden's' activities, unexplained events would arise and prevent them from completing their mission, leading many involved to believe this was their target, but they could never prove it.

The investigation had continued like that, seemingly without end, until an officer arbitrarily tried to investigate possible friends from his school, one person in particular, a young girl by the name of Sorana Bellit. Zakon had had no intention of authorizing a deeper investigation search into this girl, for many reasons, but before he even had a chance to make the choice, there was an attack.

Nearly every secured system in the Valmechan Praetorian Guard digital network had suddenly come under attack at once. A cyber assault of a scale they had never seen before. Dozens of staffed cyber technicians and an entire fleet of AI anti-hackers immediately took up the fight, but by the end of that day long digital war, there was no telling what files had been stolen, altered, or infected.

Every other Guard division across the city went into recovery mode to try and ascertain, then repair any damage, but not Guardian Zakon. He knew the source of this trouble and he would find proof linking Kaden to these crimes if it killed him.

However, the full scale of the damage wrought by the attack wouldn't be fully understood until later. As Zakon pressed on with his investigation, classified documents began anonymously reaching various news agencies across the city. Half-finished investigations into political scandals, government cover-ups, and records of governmental oversights started to pop up like weeds that quickly caught fire and became storms of public backlash.

Fear ran rampant through the political councils and the Praetorian hierarchy. Anyone who had something to hide was at wit's end with fear that the next planetary headline would feature a cover photo of them.

Amongst these leaks were revelations that a significant amount of time and baxpower had been put into the investigations of young children. Especially the most recently investigated ones, some of whom were from powerful Valmechan families. As Zakon had feared, these families were far from understanding and in the end, he was forced to cease direct investigations into the ‘real’ Kaden. Now, if the criminal known as Kaden was to be caught, it would have to be red-handed.

In the years that followed, the young Lombax known as Kaden had continued to torment Zakon and his city, seemingly with new confidence.

Unlike most criminals, Kaden was unpredictable. He didn't steal physical things or attack people, all he did was appear randomly, cause various amounts of damage, and then disappear.

The closest thing to a pattern he had was that he often stole secret data or information from various technology firms and government resource centers. At first Zakon had hoped that these were acts of corporate espionage, however, not only did he find no pattern in the category of the attacks, but there were absolutely zero signs that any of the information was being sold on the black market.

It seemed that Kaden had no motive at all, which made catching him very difficult. To this day, Zakon had no proof linking the Lombax's many crimes together besides the sighting of a young male at the scenes with a blacked out helmet visor that prevented them from being identified.

' _Until today,_ ' thought Zakon as he squinted into the Valmechan sunrise.

Today was the day that the young Lombax named Kaden would transfer from Valmecha to his new school: The famous Nova Academy. If nothing else, Zakon knew that Kaden was arrogant and one last hoorah fit his profile to a T.

For once in Zakon's long struggle to capture Kaden red-handed, he knew ahead of time when his opponent would strike and this time, he would finally have him. Zakon didn't even care what he arrested him for. One way or another he was going to put Kaden in jail and prevent him from leaving the city.

“Guardian Zakon, you have a call,” came the voice of Daria over the intercom. Zakon had kept the channel on, wanting to know immediately when news from the third district came through. “It’s the Third District Riot Division, sir,” Daria added.

The old Guardian sighed, both eager and afraid of what he’d hear next, “Put them through,” he ordered firmly.

* * *

The moment he'd heard the 'off' click of his intercom, Zakon slammed his fist against his desk. The officer in charge of the Third District Riot Division had just finished giving their report on the engagement with Kaden and it had not been pleasing to the old Guardian.

Zakon then took a deep breath to calm himself before leaning back in his chair and letting it back out slowly. Kaden had defeated his patrolmen, his pursuit squad, and now his riot suppressors. There wasn't much left in Zakon's arsenal that could be considered non-lethal at this point. The old Lombax smiled at a sudden thought before shaking it from his head, sitting back up, and pressing the intercom button for his assistant,

"Daria, please tell me you have a position on the target?" he asked tiredly.

There was a short delay before his assistant answered, "We do, sir. Traffic monitors just picked up the energy signature of the target's hoverboard moving down Skyway 385."

Zakon took a moment to think before replying, "Order all patrol units not to engage, surveillance only," he commanded. "Don't lose the target, but I don't want to be paying a single bolt more in damaged cruisers or medical bills today, understood?"

"Yes, sir," confirmed Daria before she switched off the intercom to pass along his orders.

Once again Zakon stood up and walked over to his window to think. If only he knew what Kaden's purpose was, what that insane young Lombax intended to do next. While it was normally impossible to predict what Kaden would do beforehand, his motives usually became clear in hindsight. This time however, Zakon couldn't see anything resembling a reason for his target's actions. He began to retrace the day's events as he racked his brain to find an answer.

Kaden had been spotted in the eighth district, then he hit the seventh and then the third, but where next? Zakon mentally drew a line over the path of destruction his quarry had cut through his city. Then, he saw something that didn’t make sense.

Quickly turning back around, Zakon pressed the intercom button for his assistant once more, "Daria, what district does Skyway 385 lead to?" he questioned.

Again there was a short delay before his assistant answered, "That Skyway goes to the fifth district, sir," she answered. "I'll send the Skyway's map route to your computer."

A moment later, Zakon's holo-monitor lit up and displayed a sectional map of the city with a single route highlighted. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he studied the image. District Five was an artificial beach/ocean/water park vacation spot. It was mostly filled with civilian vacationers and had very little cover or hiding places for a hoverboarder on the run. It seemed less than ideal for Kaden's current tactic of stirring up the guard only to evade them later.

That was what stuck out to Zakon. Why did Kaden seem to do nothing to hide himself? Usually they only ever catch the barest glimpse of him leaving a crime scene before he disappeared without a trace. As a matter of fact, why did he even reveal himself at all? Such blatant, show-off tactics usually came only after he’d been caught breaking into or stealing something, but when he revealed himself to the patrol cruiser in District Eight, they had no knowledge of where he was or what he was up to.

Then, Zakon found what he was looking for. It was true that Skyway 385 did end at District Five, but it took a detour that passed right next to another district… District Thirteen.

Zakon's tail began to dance behind him and his ears twitched excitedly as a wry smile split across his face. In the several years that he'd been hunting Kaden, Zakon had learned to look at a few things differently whenever the young pain in his tail was involved.

Kaden wasn't a normal criminal by any means and any standard motive for breaking the law was meaningless to him. Most of his crimes amounted to data theft from the labs of District Nine, but there was no sign that he sold them. This meant that he stole the information just for himself; for his own personal curiosity. Couple that with his exceptional mechanical skills and hacking abilities and Zakon had the profile sheet of an evil genius.

This, the old Guardian had known for a while, ‘but’ Kaden wasn't ‘just’ an evil genius, he was also a ‘boy’ genius. His experiments weren't for conquest or out of revenge, they were the acts of a child who was too big for his playpen.

Yes! That was it. Today was Kaden's last day before leaving his home and he wanted to do something special. Kaden wanted to 'play' a game with his longtime rival the Praetorian Guard and what better place to 'play' than the uninhabited thirteenth district.

"Daria," barked Zakon in a very out-of-character, excited voice, "…prepare the Sentinel." The sound of something like glass shattering crashed through the intercom’s speaker.

Then, after a very long delay, Daria finally answered, "Y-yes, sir," she replied hesitantly.

Zakon switched off his intercom and marched eagerly toward the door. He was going to end this little game himself. After all these years behind a desk, it was almost thrilling to be going out to 'play' again. He hated to admit it, but some part of him was actually looking forward to this. It was time for the finale.


	4. Valmecha's Guardian

Kaden sat comfortably in the towering skeletal remains of an old skyscraper. All around him were hundreds of despondent buildings from the past that now formed an apocalyptic forest of bygone urbanization. 

In a city as large as Valmecha, replacing an old and out-of-date building with a new one was an almost weekly occurrence somewhere in the massive area. However, the towering skyscrapers were much too tall to be demolished and rebuilt on site. The unused space alone would cost the city millions of bolts a day and construction would take years even with advanced building techniques.

There were also the complications that came with the standard process of large-scale, intercity construction like the logistics of moving the heavy construction equipment to various parts of the city, the removal of the waste from the old building, not to mention the risk of damaging other nearby buildings. 

The solution that was thought up by the Lombaxes was a simple one. Within the confines of District Twelve, new buildings were pre-constructed to the city's and its districts' specifications. Then, when it was time to replace the old one with the new one, the two were swapped via teleportation. Even Kaden didn't know what technology could allow the economical teleportation of two entire buildings, but that was how the city did it. The new tower was moved to the city site and the old tower was sent here, to the thirteenth district, to be dismantled for its building materials.

If there was one place within the confines of Valmecha City that Kaden could expect the Guard to bring out their big guns, it was here. He only hoped he'd pissed off old Lexi enough to bring him out of his rocking chair. Even if his instigation had worked, however, it would still be a while before anyone showed up, so Kaden had landed in one of the buildings to have the lunch he'd stashed inside it.

With his legs hanging out over the windowless ledge of what he guessed was probably the three-hundredth floor, Kaden eagerly opened his Crimson Commander lunch box and reached inside. He then pulled out a thermos followed by a simple peanut butter and melliculis jelly sandwich that his mother had made for him. He swiped his finger across the thermos' lid, which caused it to glow softly, before he set it down on the bare concrete floor.

After licking his lips hungrily, he dug into the sandwich with ravenous gusto thanks to the appetite he'd worked up from the morning's activities. He had almost eaten half of it by the time the thermos beeped, indicating that the liquid inside had been heated to the right temperature. 

However, Kaden stopped chewing not because he wanted to, but because he began to choke on the food that was in his mouth. Dropping his sandwich and beating his chest with one hand, he reached for his thermos urgently with the other. With the push of a button, a small spout popped up from the top and he took a long swig of the hot chocolate inside.

It was true that with all the physical activity that was likely in store for him, hot chocolate was probably a bad choice, but he couldn't say no to the thought of drinking liquefied chocolate essence on this special day. As for the rest of his lunch, it consisted mainly of his favorite sandwiches and snacks. His mother had clearly known that today warranted a special lunch.

Even so, she had still tried to sneak in a Saluber root sandwich among his spread. Kaden gagged on the mouthful of food and spat out a wad of weed and crust. He lifted the top of the sandwich he'd nearly inhaled heedless of seeing what was inside. 

His face scowled at the trickery of his mother and the ruination of his sacred lunch. He wasn't happy about it, but he blamed himself for thinking he could get away with a vegetable-free meal for one day in his life.

He quickly reached for his thermos once more, but in his haste to wash away the foul aftertaste, Kaden had knocked over the container and spilled a small amount of his precious drink onto the dusty concrete floor. 

He frowned as he raised the thermos back to his lips and drank the last few remaining drops of his hot chocolate before sighing sadly. While still having the flavor of Saluber in his throat and nothing to wash it down with, Kaden was beginning to wonder how his lunch could get any worse now. This was an example of an ironically timed thought.

As Kaden repacked his food containers and trash into his lunchbox, he noticed a small ripple stretch across the hot chocolate puddle he'd made. At first he didn't think anything of it, but the ripple repeated every few seconds rhythmically. 

As he began to watch the tiny puddle, he noticed a soft, but deep thud somewhere in the distance. He looked around for the noise's source, but couldn't find anything. The barren wasteland at the foot of the building formed a constant storm of dust that, when combined with the long shadows cast by the hundreds of buildings, made visibility impossible.

Kaden wondered what could be making that sound. His first instinct was that the Guard had finally arrived, but he couldn't imagine what they could have brought that would make such a noise. It seemed more likely to be the work of a District Twelve deconstruction crew about to start the dismantling of another building. 

Even with that in mind though, whatever was moving was making a single set of evenly intermittent impacts with what was likely the ground. This brought to mind a construction mech walking across some flat surface, but by the echo that Kaden heard, he was sure the object was still far away. It would have to be several times larger than the biggest construction mech he'd ever seen…

As Kaden searched his vast memory for something to match the sound too, he remembered a single file that he'd found on the Praetorian network last year. It was a secret military project that not even he could get access too. The only bit of information he had managed to get on it was a project name, 'Valmecha's Guardian: Project Sentinel'.

The rhythmic thumping came to a halt somewhere at the base of the building Kaden was in. He was starting to get a really bad feeling in his still hungry gut, and he reached for his hoverboard, prepared to make a run for it if necessary. 

Then, a thunderous boom echoed through the dead city alleyways and the anthropomorphic form of a colossal war machine burst from the cloudy veil below. Riding up on thrusters powerful enough to propel a star cruiser, the Sentinel flew straight up until its gargantuan head was level with Kaden. Its three red, robotic eyes focused on him intensely.

"And so it's come to this has it, Kaden?" echoed the Sentinel in an amplified version of Zakon's voice. "For almost four years you've terrorized this city and now you think you can just leave? I've waited a long time for this and now, I'm finally going to put you behind plasma rays myself."

Kaden stood frozen in awe at the two hundred meter tall metallic giant that floated before him. Blowback from its thrusters whipped the building and his body with high velocity wind, but he didn't even blink his eyes. 

He didn't know how to describe what he was feeling right now. The Sentinel was one of the most advanced and secret pieces of technology in the Praetorian arsenal and up close it was clearly one of the most beautiful works of engineering and craftsmanship that Kaden had ever seen. It wasn't a weapon meant for Peacekeeping, either. This was a machine of war, built to protect the city from invasion. It was such an important piece of equipment that even the great Guardian Alexi Zakon was risking his job to use it at a time like this.

Kaden swallowed the lump that was growing in his throat before he spoke, "Lexi," he began with words full of emotion, his voice easily reaching Zakon through the Sentinel's external listening array, "…I didn't know how much you cared," he pretended to sob as he made a show of wiping away a tear that the dust had caused.

Zakon growled irritatedly within the Sentinel's cranium-housed VR control deck and without another word, swung his own fist forward. Moving with its pilot, the Sentinel swung its truck-sized fist forward synchronously and slammed it into the building just below where Kaden stood. 

Kaden's world shifted sideways as the floor he was standing on ripped itself apart and he was knocked to the ground. The building's quaking only got worse as dirt and rock began to fall from the crumbling ceiling and more structural supports gave out.

Kaden got on his hoverboard as quickly as he could and his ion drive shrieked to life a moment later, blasting him deeper into the building's collapsing interior. His plan was to move through the building and away from Zakon, then come out the other side. As he sped down the collapsing hallway, however, he noticed that something was wrong. The way that the chunks of rubble were falling around him wasn't normal. It was like they were falling horizontally, but the concept itself was making Kaden think he’d been struck in the head and didn’t realize it. 

The reason became clear, as the final remnants of the building section he was in disappeared, and he glanced over his shoulder.

The massive fist of the Sentinel was still held in place where it had struck the building, but there was no material within several meters of it. The light around it was bending and the dust and rubble in the air were all being sucked toward it like a vacuum. Kaden knew what he was looking at. A gravity well generator must have been stored in that armored fist and seeing it from the receiving end made his blood run cold. 

Right now, the Sentinel's fist was acting like an artificial black hole, sucking in everything around it and crushing it. It ate a massive, spherical chunk from the building while Kaden desperately tried to escape the gravitational pull on his hoverboard.

Where he was now, relative to the gravity well, was just far enough away that his hoverboard's thrusters were able to barely overcome it. It expanded the gap between them an inch at a time, but that would only have been enough if every ounce of the device's power was focused wholly on pushing him away from the well's epicenter. 

Unfortunately for Kaden, this proved impossible to accomplish as more chunks of concrete began to break off of the building's remains and were sent hurtling towards the well, which sent a few of them toward Kaden in the process. He was left with no choice but to evade the hundred pound, flying boulders that would have pulverized him otherwise. These maneuvers cost him precious inches and when he'd finally put himself back on a straight course out of the well, he'd found that even at full power he was now slowly being pulled backward.

Zakon watched Kaden struggle against his gravity fist on the 360-holo-screen monitor that was set up in his control center. He fought the urge to laugh in joy at the sight of his nemesis finally unable to run away, poetic justice as well as the legitimate kind. All he had to do now was to wait for Kaden's hoverboard engine to burn out and then, just before the young Lombax was squashed in the miniature black hole, he'd switch the gravity field to neutral, creating a zero-g bubble that would imprison his target.

Kaden had other plans, though. Thinking quickly, the young Lombax gave his board a set of mental subcommands to follow, the first of which was to release his leg clamps. The desperate Lombax gripped the sides of his board as tightly as he could before the clamps disengaged and his hoverboard continued to blaze away for all its worth. 

Very carefully, and using a great deal more strength than Kaden had thought he possessed, he kept himself from falling off the board and managed to lie his body flat across it. This had the bonus of streamlining himself from the intense vacuum forces, but more importantly, it allowed his feet to face behind him.

With a simple mental command, Kaden's hoverboots flared brightly and, when combined with the still shrieking thrusters of his hoverboard, slowly began to push their owner out of the gravity well once more. 

Zakon watched in horror as Kaden begin to slip away and ground his teeth together in frustration. He refused to let his enemy escape, not this time. With his own series mental commands, the Sentinel's main reactor output to the gravity well generator spiked to dangerous levels and the force of the gravity well was increased.

Kaden could feel his very organs and the blood in his veins being sucked backward by the extreme gravimetric pressure and even with both his boots and his board fighting against it, he was once again being pulled slowly back into the well. 

Unfortunately an increase in gravimetric pull also meant an increase in the well's range and all around him the hollowed-out building was chewed away even more. Once again he was forced to avoid flying debris and once again it forced him to lose ground on the gravity well, but those few extra blocks of building turned out to be the rebar that broke the column's back, or bracing in this case.

With a loud crack that split the air like thunder, the final supports of the building's upper levels snapped through and gave way. Kaden had decided to take his lunch pretty close to the building's roof, but there were still at least twenty more stories to go. Like a massive concrete tree being felled by a woodsman, the upper levels began to lean over the Sentinel's head before breaking loose completely and dropping.

Zakon looked up and barely had time to shout in dismay before thousands of tons of stone and metal slammed into his war mech, weighing it down, and sending him plummeting to the planet's surface below.

Kaden felt the sudden release of the gravity well as if he were a rubber-band being released from a full stretch and was sent ripping through the air at an insane velocity a moment later. 

Exhausted from the strain, the young Lombax tilted his body side to side as he manually steered his board out of the remains of the mangled building. 

After he'd gotten a safe distance away, he cut the power to his boots and fought to get back up on his board and re-secure himself. He then cut the power to his board as well and stopped himself just in time to hear the earth-shaking rumble of the broken building section hitting the ground, along with the Sentinel, hundreds of meters below.

Kaden forced a calm focus into his adrenaline-flooded mind and began to take account of his situation. It was unlikely that merely having tens of thousands of tons of building fall on it and then plummeting hundreds of meters into the hard ground was enough to stop the Sentinel for good, but because he didn't know anything about the machine's design specs, he couldn't even speculate how much time he had before it recovered. This was something Kaden rarely experienced… a moment of uncertainty.

Even his most generous estimates for the Sentinel's recovery time, however, had not put it anywhere near just over thirty seconds... With another echoing boom, the Sentinel's gargantuan fist burst from the ever-present surface cloud cover and grabbed for Kaden's hovering form.

"It won't be that easy, Kaden!" roared Zakon through the Sentinel’s speakers as he piloted the machine back out of the fog in pursuit of his target.

Kaden dodged the metal hand skillfully before jetting off into the building graveyard with Zakon hot on his tail. Even with its titanic size, the towering robot was still able to keep pace with Kaden's hoverboard. He was forced to dodge it again and again as Zakon took swipe after swipe at him, smashing apart buildings in great burst of concrete dust as he did so.

Kaden's only respites were his advantages of size and maneuverability. He weaved in and out of the skeletal buildings, forcing Zakon to go around them as he tried to catch his prey in another gravity-field prison. Kaden wasn't worried about his pursuer, though; after all, he had been planning on Zakon sending the entire Guard after him and had prepared accordingly. 

He led the monstrous robot on a grand chase through the district without its pilot even realizing what was happening until it was too late.

* * *

Zakon was finally sure that something was wrong when the feedback on his VR control system became so heavy that the next time he swiped at Kaden, the young Lombax didn't even have to dodge it because he had simply missed. 

The old Guardian then held his position for a moment as he panted heavily while still keeping an eye on his quarry. At first he'd believed that he was merely out of shape and the the effort of controlling the Sentinel was just too much for his aged body, but even he shouldn't have been this exhausted.

He raised both of his arms up into the air and this time he paid careful attention to their weight. There was a clear difference between the two. Suspiciously, he raised the heavier arm up to his face, which brought the Sentinel's metallic forearm up across its main ocular sensor array. 

Zakon then growled infuriatedly as he examined the dozens of foreign, metallic objects that were latched onto his machine and were clearly weighing down his movements. He reached across with his other arm and attempted to remove them, but just as he was about to scrape them from his armored hide, his main visual screen went dark and he lost sight of his robotic body.

* * *

Kaden had just finished emptying the entire clip of the riot pistol he'd stolen into the Sentinel's ocular array the moment he'd realized that Zakon had found out about his surprise. He reloaded the weapon quickly and set about blinding other sensors around his opponent's body.

As the Sentinel had been chasing Kaden around the city, hundreds of depleted uranium anchors had been magnetically latching onto the war mech's metal frame as it passed within range. The added weight had begun to put extra strain on the robot's propulsion systems and limb servos, slowing it down little by little. Zakon had been too focused on his objective to notice until his metallic body had been almost covered by them.

Each one weighed several thousand pounds. Kaden had burnt out three grav-trolleys trying to place them all in the various buildings, but even under all that weight, the Sentinel seemed to be more than capable of continuing the fight. Again, Kaden had to marvel at the brilliant engineering that had gone into building such a miraculous death-bot.

Zakon roared in frustration as he swung his arms about in an attempt to stop the flow of green goo that was covering up his eyes. Several close calls had almost struck Kaden, but he had the advantage of maneuverability and showed no fear as he continued the task of blinding his opponent. 

However, as Zakon's swipes become more random and less easy to predict, Kaden's risk of being hit increased greatly. Luckily, he had another plan already in motion and had been leading his half-blind and weighted down opponent into another trap.

In an explosion of light and power, chains of plasma and electricity lashed out of the Electro-net Detainment Field generators that Kaden had set up in the buildings currently surrounding the Sentinel. They gripped its limbs tightly and held it firmly in place. Zakon had just enough vision left to see the display of energy engulf him before the green riot gel on his ocular arrays finally overgrew his last sensor and he was thrust into darkness.

Metal groaned and sparks flared as the gigantic war mech fought against its restraints. Kaden watched the metal behemoth roar and struggle, but felt no concern about its escape. Each of those Electro-nets was designed to safely immobilize and hold an adult Thramanian Gargathon and the Sentinel was now being held by over a dozen of them. The devices had been intended to be used against a column of tanks, but one giant robot worked just as well.

Kaden did a few victory spins in the air on his board as the elation of victory flooded through him. The fact that he'd managed to capture the Guardian of Valmecha, both the mechanical one and the lombax, was almost too much to handle, but still he fought to keep his mind clear. Kaden knew that this moment was the most crucial part of his whole operation. What he did next would define how this day was remembered for all of eternity.

After a deep, calming breath, Kaden flew his hoverboard over to within a respectable range of the still struggling Sentinel and pulled out a small, rectangular device from his pocket before holding it up above him.

With all the care and precision of a surgeon, Kaden carefully directed the device's small camera lens towards himself and made sure that the Sentinel was clearly visible in the background. It was selfie time.

* * *

Alexi Zakon panted heavily in the dark confines of his VR control center. It had become very clear to him that he was not capable of breaking out of his shackles with brute force alone. While it was true that his muscles were tired from the exhaustive exercise of piloting the Sentinel, that in no way affected the actual power output of the machine. The feedback that Zakon felt was of a carefully adjusted ratio to his current strength and that of the Sentinel’s. This meant that if there was something the robot could do then so could he.

In the darkness, Alexi's anger simmered softly as he contemplated his situation. He was now controlling the most advanced weapon in the entire Valmechan Praetorian Guard and, despite that, he was still being bested by some child with too much free time on their hands. Zakon ground his teeth together as that simmer of rage began to bubble up even more and he fought to keep his cool.

With a very careful series of mental thought processes, Zakon flipped through the various settings of his war machine. Eventually, he came to the one for activating its thermal scopes. He quickly flipped his ocular settings over to infrared and his dark world was immediately washed in reds and blues showing the cold monolithic forms of the buildings and the burning, lashing tendrils of the containment field around him.

His eyes combed over the sea of heat signatures, many of which he took to be the Electro-net generators, until they fell upon one that was out of place. With a mental command the screen zoomed in and a moment later, Zakon's entire front view screen was filled with the red glowing image of a young Lombax with their back to him and an object held high in their hand. Zakon wondered what Kaden was doing for a moment before a bright, red flash of heat was registered coming from the small object. In the time it took that flash to go off, Zakon realized what Kaden was doing and that discovery flash-heated his simmering pot of rage into steam.

* * *

Kaden took another picture with his free hand giving the thumbs up sign and the digital information saved itself to his NID's hard drive. He then set the camera to record mode and had just begun explaining what it was like to capture a wild Guardian in its natural habitat when his voice was drowned out in a sudden, piercing, white wash of sound. He turned to see what was making the racket and found the Sentinel had pressurized steam whistling out of gaps in the mostly sealed exhaust vents all over its body.

Zakon had shut off all the exhaust ports leading off of the machine's reactor. The result was that no excess heat could escape the Sentinel and its metallic body's temperature began to skyrocket dramatically. The reason why the old Guardian had done this became apparent as the intense temperatures of the military-grade armor began to demagnetize the clamps holding the depleted uranium weights to it. As the last few anchors fell out of sight, Zakon finally released the exhaust port shields and superheated gas bellowed out of them in sudden relief.

Next, the Sentinel struggled to shift its body around within the Electro-net containment field so that its arm pointed directly at the building with the most containment generators positioned within it. The robotic hand then split in two and both halves slid down the machine's forearm, revealing a wavelength-destabilizing photon cannon underneath. The armor around the cannon glowed red hot as the capacitors charged for a blast.

Kaden spun around and tore off as fast as he could the moment he'd realized what was happening and the weapon was fired a second later. Destabilized electromagnetic waves exploded from the cannon's barrel and ripped through the large building like it was paper. Rock and metal were vaporized in an instant and almost half of the generators securing the Sentinel in place went with them. The beam didn't stop there, though. Instead, Zakon whipped it across the sky and used it to cut through several more generators in other buildings before its charge ran out. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that the beam nearly cut through Kaden in the process.

Kaden looked down at the smoking rear corner of his hoverboard. One of his thrusters had been cut clean off and several drops of red, molten metal dripped from its rapidly cooling surface. The echoes of shattering machines and collapsing building structure filled the air a moment later as Zakon ripped the few remaining Electro-net Generators from their mounts with sheer robotic muscle. 

The Sentinel, now free again, then blasted off towards Kaden, but the young Lombax didn't run. Zakon pulled up on his thrusters and leered over his target, his gravity generator already primed to make another well.

Kaden turned to look up at the Sentinel with an expression of combined disbelief and indignation, "You almost killed me!" he shouted accusingly at the two-hundred meter tall monster, seemingly unaware of the odd picture it painted.

"It was an accident," Zakon shouted back unapologetically. "That sort of thing tends to happen when you run from the law."

Inside the Sentinel's control room, Zakon's own words gave him pause. It was VERY true that 'accidents' did happen in these kinds of situations. He had ordered all of his Guard units to keep clear for their own safety, but that in effect meant that nobody else was watching what happened here. This opened a few new options for Zakon. Of course he had no intention of actually killing the young boy; he just realized that he had a little room for some slightly more… aggressive tactics.

An odd stillness had filled the air between Kaden and the Sentinel as he waited for its next move. It was starting to give him another bad feeling. 

Then the moment was shattered and the Sentinel swiftly raised its arm cannon and pointed it directly at him. The screech of hoverboard jets filled the sky, propelling the young Lombax clear of the line of fire, before the sound was drowned out by the roar of the Sentinel's cannon.

Zakon's laughter emanated metallically from the Sentinel's amplifiers, "That was also an accident!" he cackled with the tone of someone who'd finally lost their sense of self-control. "And so is this," he added as the Sentinel's fist came swinging upward. Kaden was so stunned by Zakon's character change that he almost didn't have time to dodge it. "For years I've been taking it easy on you boy, but now you're going to see what happens when you wake up the sleeping giant."

Before the echoes of Zakon’s words had died down, dozens of missile pods sprang open along the sentinel's shoulders as their safety locks were disengaged and their payloads armed. The tell-tale whistles of homing rockets reached Kaden's ears as the swarm of missiles blasted out of their storage bays. 

Kaden was already moving away at full speed when his NID blinked a warning that he was being painted for target lock. Using his NID, Kaden sent wireless, mental commands to dozens of devices that he'd hidden amongst the buildings. The whole area erupted in a sudden wash of burning flares and reflective chaff. This scene was immediately followed by a wave of explosions that boomed throughout the dead city and shook the buildings around them as the missiles were brought to disarray by Kaden's countermeasures.

Zakon's sensors searched through the veil of explosions and debris for his target, but the equipment used to disrupt his missiles' targeting systems was working almost equally well on the Sentinel's own systems. After several long seconds though, the dust of chaff and the flames of flares and rockets died down enough for Zakon to lock back onto his target. Kaden had managed to get quite far in the short time he had, but it would not last for long.

* * *

Kaden was fighting hard to control the odd trajectory of his damaged board. Its sheared thruster was making him veer pretty badly as he now ran for what he feared was his life. It seemed he had finally pushed old Zakon to his breaking point, which, if Kaden was honest, made him feel a little proud, but most of all it made him decide that his work here was done and it was time to pull his tail out of the plasma.

With a simple thought command to his NID, Kaden made a phone call, "Sam, you there?" he asked urgently when his HUD displayed that the call had connected.

Instead of a reply, a small box appeared on Kaden's HUD with a text only response, 'What do you want Kaden?' it read.

Kaden was surprised by the method of reply, "Why are you texting me instead of just answering your communicator?" he asked.

'I don't want my voice to be traced if your NID signal is being intercepted.' Sam's text replied. 'I know that the Guard is out after you today and they're out in a big way. You should see the crazy power usage reports I'm getting in here. Just what in the heck did you do in the seventh district, anyway?'

Kaden could hear the thrusters of the Sentinel getting closer by the moment and he didn't have time for this, "Sam, I need that thing that we talked about a couple of days ago for District Thirteen and I need it right now." he explained.

'Do you know how much trouble I'd get in for pulling something like that without scheduling it?!' Sam replied with grammatical irritation. 'What am I writing? Of course you do. You just don't care about such a MINOR detail!!!'

Kaden could spot the Sentinel behind him now, it was just a few buildings away and gaining fast, "Sam, I have a two-hundred meter tall war machine on my tail and it will literally squish me into a furry pancake if I don't get that power allocation."

There was no reply message to Kaden for a worryingly long time, but then, 'Alright, fine, but only because I don't want to have to tell your father about how you died.' wrote the reply. 'The charge time will take about three minutes.'

The Sentinel burst from around a building in a roar of propulsion noise, "I've got you now!" shouted Zakon gleefully as he swung the robot's fist straight for Kaden.

Kaden changed direction sharply and used his board's naturally skewed trajectory to carry him up and over the metal fist. He then flew back up and along the Sentinel's arm as its punch crashed into the building just behind him, sending a shower of rock flying in all directions and a large portion of the building's roof to cave in. He managed to make it almost to the shoulder before the machine's defense turrets opened fire. Luckily, he still had several riot shields in his possession to protect himself with and managed to get behind the Sentinel.

"I don't think I have another three minutes!" shouted Kaden as he sped away from the Sentinel once more and the metallic giant turned to pursue.

'Oh, well then I'll just have to start working on a nice (and obviously false) speech about what it was like to know you for your funeral.' commented Sam coldly. 'I just hope there's enough of you left for the viewing.'

The NID link icon then blacked out and disappeared, leaving Kaden to contend with an enraged Praetorian Commander that was out for blood and piloting a massive deathbot until Sam could finish preparations on his exit strategy. It was going to be an interesting three minutes to say the least.

A new icon flashed on Kaden's HUD to let him know that rockets were being fired at him again, but this wasn't the same icon as the 'painted' one from before. Kaden's NID used various sensors equipped on his suit to track the launch and trajectories of several dozen dumb rockets that were being launched from Zakon's Sentinel. 

Unlike the previous wave, these missiles were not set to hunt for a target. Instead, they were given pre-designated routes by the launcher's targeting system. This made them immune to any sort of tracking-system disorienting tactics that Kaden might employ like last time, but meant that they were much easier to avoid.

All along the building that Kaden was flying next to, dozens of yellow circles blinked to life on his HUD system. Each one represented where Kaden's NID expected a rocket to hit and so long as he stayed out of their way, he'd be safe. Using all the flying skill he possessed, which was a lot in his personal opinion, Kaden weaved through the maze of circles while paying close attention to any that turned red and started to flash. This image signified that the missile was about to strike.

While Kaden was focused on avoiding the missiles, Zakon moved the Sentinel ahead of him. The moment his target was in position, Zakon fired his robot's thrusters to full power and charged. 

Kaden heard, rather than saw, the Sentinel coming at him and he swerved hard through an opening in the nearest building. He slipped through the concrete entrance and was immediately followed by the massive metal fist of the Sentinel.

The walls and ceiling around him crumbled as he sped through the building's hallways. Zakon had decided not to pull back on the force of his charge and was now digging his way into the building right behind Kaden. If it weren't for the sheer size of the machine and the amount of material it had to smash through slowing it down, Kaden would have been crushed by now.

Kaden was spat out of the building's other side like an insect leaving a tree. A mere second later, a two-hundred meter section of the same building exploded in a storm of rubble and scrap as the Sentinel continued its pursuit relentlessly. The building's top section collapsed and nearly a fifth of its total structure fell from the skyscraper's astronomical height down to the dusty ground below. It was but a drop of water in the ocean of dead buildings.

With Kaden's every move only managing to pull him a mere few inches ahead of certain death, there were very few things that could improve his mood at that moment. However, the sight of the mag-rail tracks just ahead was one of those few things. It was a brief moment of fortune that apparently needed to be paid for karmatically.

Kaden was about to make his final approach to his target destination when Zakon took another swing at him, only this time, the crafty Guardian opened his hand as the strike came in. Kaden had only taken into account the surface area of the Sentinel's closed fist when he'd made his move to avoid it and he tried to slim down his profile and squeeze in-between the giant hand's open fingers, but he wasn't able to get through unscathed.

The rear of his hoverboard smashed into a finger's armored plating and was obliterated in a shower of splintered steel and engine parts. The next thing Kaden knew was that the world was spinning around him very quickly. 

As he plummeted through the sky, flipping end over end, he tried to reorient himself, but he was spinning so fast that he couldn't tell which way was up. In fact, the only thing he could be sure about was that hot chocolate had definitely been a bad choice after all.

His only option left was to somehow stabilize his movements by changing his inertia. After a quick mental command that was dripping with nauseous, neural activity, Kaden's hoverboard disengaged its leg clamps. As he and the board split, Kaden was able to spread himself out as wide as he could to try and catch as much air as possible. Eventually, this stabilized his fall and he was finally able to get a clear look at his situation.

Falling just a few meters away from him was his hoverboard. Its slimmer frame was making it fall more quickly than Kaden, but he could easily reach it if he pulled in his limbs and made a dive for it. What was most concerning at the moment though was how little sunlight there appeared to be. Kaden really didn't want to, but he forced himself to look up and find the very sky being blotted out by the hulking mass of metal that was perpetually chasing him.

The Sentinel's gargantuan form was a hindrance to itself now, though. Clearly it had not been designed to chase someone downward. The amount of friction from the air it was experiencing was already starting to heat its armor, but it showed no signs of giving up its pursuit. As if to emphasize this fact, the titanic robot reached forward once again to try and capture its target. However, the air-resistance was making its movements slow and Kaden wasted no time placing his arms at his sides and stiffening his legs to make him as aerodynamic as possible. As the massive hand tried to close around him, Kaden's hoverboots flared and he blasted free of its clutches.

Catching his hoverboard and turning to face the mag-rails in the same motion, Kaden laid his body flat across the board once more and used his boots as his new source of propulsion. However, his boots were nowhere near as powerful as his hoverboard's lost ion engine and he'd barely been able to keep ahead of the Sentinel thus far. If he tried it now, the moment Zakon noticed him make a move for the rails, the old Guardian would simply fly ahead and cut him off. Kaden's only option now was to go on the offensive.

Pointing his board straight upward, he blasted his way toward the Sentinel. This clearly came as a complete surprise to its pilot as its only reaction was an awkward grab that missed him by a long shot. 

Kaden flipped himself upside down and slammed feet first into the Sentinel's chest. The heat from its armor was fur-singing, but he ignored it as he sprinted along the robot's body toward his objective.

Zakon tilted his head downward, which in turn made the Sentinel's main ocular array look down as well, allowing him to see the tiny form of Kaden running along his chest. Zakon was infuriated by the audacity that the young Lombax still showed and with a quick mental command, dozens of hull-mounted turrets sprung up all along the war-bot's chest before opening fire. There was a flash of light around Kaden as he deployed his stolen riot shield to protect himself from the attack.

Kaden's widely grinning face continued to charge forward unimpeded on Zakon's view screen. It was, without a doubt, the single most irritating thing that the old officer had ever seen. Just before Kaden ran over the Sentinel's head however, his mouth moved as if he were trying to say something. A moment later the Sentinel's computer had filtered out the roaring of the wind and turret fire to replay what it had recognized as speech.

"Don't look down," said Kaden's voice clearly over the Sentinel's internal speakers.

Immediately, Zakon looked straight ahead (which was downward relative to the planet) and caught his breath in his throat as he saw the veil of dust just a few meters away. Below that layer of dirty clouds was the ground and at the speed he was going, he was going to hit it very hard, much harder than last time.

Rockets flared and the air filled with noise as Zakon put every piece of propulsion equipment he had into slowing his descent. A few seconds later, he splashed through the cloud layer and could no longer see his surroundings. He continued to fall as his velocity rapidly decreased. Then, like a wall in a snowstorm, the solid surface of Fastoon suddenly filled Zakon's view screen and he crashed into it heavily.

Held in place by a grav-harness, Zakon's flesh-body was shaken violently as his Sentinel absorbed the impact with the ground. His room went dark as his systems were thrown into chaos. 

Moments later, after the shaking had stopped, they came back online with a damage report. Zakon looked over the report quickly and noted that the damage was negligible and immediately he got the Sentinel back on its feet to continue the chase.

* * *

Kaden used his hoverboard like a glider to help steer him over the mag-rails. There were five main mag-rails on this track section and each one was meant to carry a single grav-train on it. These trains ferried industrial equipment, workers, and recycled building materials between District Twelve's industrial complexes and District Thirteen.

Kaden managed to position himself over the middle rail and place his board down onto it, before getting back to his feet and clamping himself in once more. 

His board had lost the ability to fly on its own power, but that didn't matter now. Spikes fired out from the front and middle of the board to keep it balanced on the rail while simultaneously pulling power from its metallic surface, or at least it would have if there was any.

Without power from the main line, Kaden could only using his board’s remaining grav-manipulator and the rail's magnetic properties to propel himself along. Using this system Kaden could traverse the district easily, but there was no doubt that at this speed Zakon would catch up to him in seconds. 

What he needed now was for the head of a District Twelve industrial complex to request a power flow increase to one of the tracks so that he could use its power like the grav-trains did and propel himself forward at top speed.

Kaden slid along the rail for a little while as he watched the timer in his visor's HUD tick down. It finally reached zero, signaling the end of his three minute waiting period, and Kaden braced himself for a sudden increase in power and speed. 

Only... it didn't come. He waited several more seconds, but still nothing. He was in the process of calling Sam again when the now familiar roar of thruster jets shook the skies around him.

Kaden was bewildered as he turned around to find the Sentinel already so close. What surprised him the most about it was that he hadn't detected the massive robot until just now. It must have had some basic stealth abilities that Kaden didn't have time to be impressed with. He coaxed as much extra power into his board as he could from the already damaged and overtaxed power core, increasing his speed forward as Zakon fired more missiles from his robot.

This next wave of rockets was, once again, different from the previous ones. These flying explosives weren't programed to follow a pre-designated path or track a target, but instead they were told to run parallel to the mag-rails and destroy anything they came into contact with. There was no way for Kaden to divert them from their paths as they screeched toward him down the track.

Kaden brought up a small display on his HUD that showed a representation of the projectiles that were coming at him from behind. He was able to use this information to avoid them. Throwing his weight up like he was jumping, Kaden leapt from one rail to another on his board, doing backflips and frontflips in a desperate attempt to avoid the inbound missiles. The effort was intense and exhausting and he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up, but it didn't seem like it would matter as the massive shadow of Zakon's sentinel loomed over him.

"Sam, where's that power?" Kaden demanded urgently into his helmet's microphone as he barely avoided another shrieking missile and landed onto the center rail once more.

There was no response from Sam despite the fact that his NID said they were connected, but Kaden's mind had changed its focus when it realized that Zakon had trapped him in place. While the Sentinel couldn't launch enough missiles at once to leave all five rails gapless, Zakon had waited for the just the right moment and then unleashed a full stream of rockets onto the rails to either side of his target. Kaden was left with no escape as the massive hands of the Sentinel hovered closer towards him.

"I have you now!" hissed Zakon excitedly as he closed his fists around his opponent. 

Gigantic metal fingers filled Kaden's view and blotted out the sun. The light around him was rapidly disappearing, leaving him in a dark room of metal.

Then, blue light sparked across the rail and lit up the darkness as Kaden's hoverboard began to absorb energy from the now powered mag-rails. The power was forced directly into his depleted overdrive cell and soon the hot, reeking stench of ozone filled the air. Kaden's mouth split into his widest grin yet as his electrical friction dissipator wrapped itself around him. There was only a small gap ahead of him in the Sentinel's fingers now, but it was just big enough.

The sonic boom of an object going over 340 meters per second blasted the Sentinel's hands apart and Kaden shot down the train tracks like a bullet being fired out of a rail gun. 

The sudden shock wave was so great that it shook even the 200 meter tall war machine to its core and Zakon was once more only held in place by his grav-harness. The sudden turbulence caused the Sentinel to veer off course over the tracks and crash into one of the nearby buildings, spraying rock and metal everywhere as the massive giant finally came to a halt at long last. 

Even as he was rocked violently about in his control room, Zakon's eyes never blinked, nor turned away from the rail that his prey had finally escaped down.

* * *

It was hard to describe the feelings that Alexi Zakon was experiencing as he crawled out of the Sentinel's control hatch in its head and took a seat on its shoulder. He looked out over the now quiet and dusty wasteland of the dead thirteenth district and sighed. 

He wasn't angry like he'd thought he'd be. He also wasn't sad that he'd failed either. Melancholy would probably be the best way Zakon could describe himself, but even he wasn't sure if that was the right word.

In the distance he could see where the mag-rails lead off into the large industrial complexes of the twelfth district, which was where Kaden was now. He could have continued the chase if he wanted. He could use his NID right now and order a full raid on the entire district, having every inch of the factories and warehouses searched for any sign of the young Lombax, but Zakon knew it would be pointless. Kaden was long gone by now and after today he'd no longer even live in the city.

Zakon had known for a long time that the young Lombax he'd chased for nearly half a decade was destined for great things, but now he'd lost his opportunity to influence what kind of greatness that might be. In this day and age, evil geniuses were not uncommon. Right now, Kaden was simply a genius who was leaning evil.

As he rested his weary body against the still hot metal of the Sentinel's armor, Zakon’s only hope was that there was someone at Nova Academy that could steer the boy onto the right path. That was, after all, the academy's purpose.

The old Guardian then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, plastic tube. He twisted off its lid and the hiss of air rushing to fill the vacuum inside reached his ears, before he pulled out the long, wrapped cigar that had been held within. The practice of smoking never really had much of a following here on Fastoon. It wasn't due to the health issues that some civilizations faced, though. Lombax technology could grow a person a new pair of lungs if they had the bolts for it.

It had been after one particularly grueling campaign, during his out-world military career on a planet where the act was commonplace, that Alexi had developed the habit of smoking a fine cigar whenever he came to the end of a particularly difficult mission. The cigar that he held in his hands now was one of the finest cigars in the galaxy. It was his last one from a set that had cost him nearly a thousand bolts a piece and he had been saving it especially for this occasion… when his hunt for the elusive young Lombax finally came to an end.

He held up the cap of the plastic tube it had come in and pressed the end of the cigar into it. The device inside then chopped off the end of the cigar and ignited it. Zakon took a few small puffs of the cigar's smoke until it was properly lit and then breathed in a deep lungful of its smoke. He had always told himself that he would smoke the cigar today regardless of the outcome, but this marked the first time that he had ever had a cigar in defeat.

Alexi Zakon exhaled a great big cloud of smoke that filled the air as it dissipated slowly. He then looked down at the glowing object in his hand and smiled sadly before flicking it out over the Sentinel's frame where it fell to the ground below. Just as he'd thought… it tasted disgusting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> City Life - The buildings in Valmecha are teleported around by a dimensionator, which is one of the rare pieces of Lombax technology that Kaden doesn't know about. As mentioned in the Ratchet and Clank comic books, if you run a positive charge through a Surinox Shard (the primary component of a dimensionator), it will open a portal through space-time within the same reality, enough to move entire planets without much effort.
> 
> Thramanian Gargathon - Actual canon creature from Into the Nexus.
> 
> Rockets - The three instances of rocket attacks in the story I modeled after actual gameplay.
> 
> Districts of Valmecha:  
> -District 1 – District contains the wealthiest of Valmecha and is considered ‘high class’.   
> -District 2 – Middle/Low Class District. Some of the lower level of District 1 are actually considered part of District 2.  
> -District 3 – Shopping District.  
> -District 4 – Natural Wildlife and Forest Preserve District, contains Zoo and open air parks.  
> -District 5 – Ocean Resort District, contains spas, retreats, and artificial beaches.  
> -District 6 – Snow Resort District with skiing, sledding, snowboarding, and ice-skating. This district is also covered with a protective Dome, similar District Seven.  
> -District 7 – Entertainment District, also known as Lombegas. It’s supposed to be a play on words with the U.S.A.’s Las Vegas.  
> -District 8 – Business District, holds massive communication tower and the Valmecha stock exchange.  
> -District 9 – Technology District, holds various research labs and the city’s main power plants.  
> -District 10 – Educational District, has a close proximity to both Technology District (nine) and Sports District (eleven). This is also the district where the Hunter twins are stationed, so they’ve run into Kaden more than once given that he goes to school in District Ten and breaks into a lot of labs in District Nine.  
> -District 11 – Sports District, contains the arenas and stadiums for all sizes and has even been known to host inter-planetary matches, resulting in one of the few interactions that the Lombax race as a whole has with the rest of Polaris.  
> -District 12 – Industrial District, housing the vast manufacturing plants that Valmecha is famous for.  
> -District 13 – Known as the Dead City District for obvious reasons. It also holds several other ‘dumping sites’ for material that isn’t as easily recycled as the mechanical scraps that go to District Twelve’s scrapyards.


	5. Farewell

Kaden felt the wind whip across his face as he began to decelerate rapidly and his anti-friction field powered down. All around him were the towering metal structures of the twelfth district's manufactories.

Up ahead, the mag-rails were flanked by dozens of large material grinders and raw material processing equipment. Just past these machines was the mag-rail switching station, which sat at the foot of a large building belonging to the Building Reclamation Department of Valmecha.

Kaden continued forward until the five-railway system met the dozens of other rails at the switching station. After bringing his board to a halt with the soft squeak of mag-breaks, the young Lombax jumped off and landed safely on a familiar maintenance walkway that he'd frequently used to mount and dismount the rails before. From there he took a short walk toward an open area, took a deep breath, and collapsed on the floor.

While lying there sprawled out across the metal ground, Kaden finally let himself relax. The adrenaline rush began to leave his veins and his heart rate slowed back to a normal speed. The feeling of exhaustion and muscle soreness that then washed over him was almost enough to make him fall asleep right there and then, as his body took count of the cost from every physical exertion over the past several hours.

After several minutes of fighting to not lose consciousness though, he managed to work up the strength to sit back up. Still breathing heavily, he rested his back against a metal safety grate and pulled his board over to his lap. 

Kaden’s face saddened as he looked at the shredded remains of the hoverboard's motor and knew it would likely never fly again. Kaden wasn't really what you'd call a sentimental Lombax, though. He tended to write off unnecessary emotions with logical thought, so he easily shrugged off the loss of his trusty hoverboard. He reminded himself that it had done its job properly and that he should just be happy that he'd got away, before he tossed the device aside and pulled out his digi-pad. He then got right to work. There were a few last minute things that he needed to take care of before he went to visit his escape’s benefactor.

* * *

Kaden made his way through Factory 38A-27 with somewhat of a skip in his step. Having recovered his stamina, he was now beginning to enjoy his newfound appreciation for simple freedom from pursuit. 

He waved cheerfully at the grease stained Lombaxes and worker-bots around the factory as he passed them, many of which waved back. Most of the employees here had already known Kaden from his frequent visits. Some had even worked alongside him on various things over the years.

Eventually he made it to a service elevator and took it up to the top of the building where Sam's office was located. Sam was actually responsible for many more projects than just this one factory, though. In fact, Sam was the CEO of Fur and Steel Fabrications, which, among other things, oversaw the largest share of old building reclamation contracts.

The doors to the lift slid open on the top floor and Kaden made his way down the hall of offices toward the giant double doors at the far end.

On his way over, he was stopped by a brown-furred Lombax, "I wouldn't go in there if I was you," the Lombax warned. "The boss is in a foul mood at the moment."

Kaden turned and recognized the factory's general manager right away, "Hello, Tarvon," he replied cheerfully, "and isn't Sam always in a bad mood?" he then added knowingly.

Tarvon smiled and shook his head at Kaden's comment, "That's only when you're here, Kaden," he explained. "This time though, some ‘idiot’ apparently forgot to file for mag-rail usage and the boss had to pull a few strings to get it done on the fly, or at least that's the report I got."

Kaden's cheerful demeanor cracked just a bit at being indirectly called an idiot, "I'm sure it was just an honest mistake. Isn't 'idiot' a bit harsh?" he defended reflexively.

"No, 'idiot' was the word the boss used," said Tarvon thoughtfully. "Though there were other descriptive terms like 'moron' and 'incompetent' thrown around a lot," he continued.

Kaden's expression was now being forced into one of false pleasantness, "Well then, I'll just have to go cheer-up the old, grouchy, fur-bag now won't I?" he said through a forced smile before turning back to face the large double doors and marching toward them.

"Maybe try not to use the words 'old', 'grouchy', or 'fur-bag'?" Tarvon shouted after him. 

Kaden waved his hand in acknowledgement of the advice and Tarvon returned to what he was doing while thinking about how much he was going to miss teasing the young Lombax after today.

* * *

As the two double doors slid apart, Kaden was greeted by the familiar sight of an oversized office chair with its back towards him. It sat with its occupant facing a wall that was seemingly made out of holo-monitors. 

Resting on the desk in front of the chair was a Lombax's hand and it was repeatedly squeezing a stress ball. The fur on the appendage was a very light tan color with very dark brown stripes that formed a sharp contrast to one another.

Kaden had seen this scene several times before. The fact that Sam had the stress ball out and was so engrossed in the holo-monitor readings as to not even hear someone come in meant that this was a precarious situation. Just as Tarvon had said, the boss was in a very bad mood and Kaden knew he needed to be very tactful, so as not to enrage the industrial leader… Then he thought,  _ 'Eh, last day.' _

"Hi, Sam!" shouted Kaden at the top of his lungs the moment the door had resealed behind him.

Sam's hand reacted immediately to the noise and crushed the heavily used stress ball to point of rupture, blasting powder and foam bits all over the desk beneath it. Slowly the chair spun around and Kaden smiled toothily into the angrily burning eyes of his unwilling accomplice and family friend, Samantha Kinz.

"Kaden," she growled in a voice that dripped with irritation and annoyance. "I see you survived your latest disaster… What a pity."

Kaden lost none of his apparent cheer as he strode happily over to one of the guest chairs in front of Sam's desk and sat down, "Yah, it was a close one,” he agreed. “By the way, does ‘three minutes’ still mean 180 galactic standard seconds, because it definitely ‘wasn’t’ three minutes when that rail came online?"

Sam's eye twitched angrily at the familiar impudence of the young Lombax. She had thought that after so many years of dealing with it that she would have gotten used to the feelings of irritation it brought forth. Alas, here it was again, getting under her fur with the same burning intensity that it always did.

Kaden's father was a well renowned engineer in the City of Valmecha and Sam had known him personally. He was currently working on an extended contract off-world, but had been contracted by Fur and Steel Fabrications several times in the past. During that time he had taught Sam almost everything she knew today about engineering and industry and she had no doubt that her current position in the company was thanks to his tutelage. 

It was for that very reason and likely that reason alone, that she reluctantly chose to help the young son of her mentor with various experiments and, on occasion, helped pull his tail out of some of the numerous fires (both figurative and literal) that he'd caused. This time however, he'd gone too far.

"I should call the District Twelve Praetorian Guards right now and have them come and get you for what you did," she threatened menacingly.

Kaden sat up in his chair in surprise at the threat, "And why would you do that?" he questioned. "It's not like this is the first time I used the company's resources to escape the Guard."

"No, it's not," agreed Sam shamefully, "but this time was different. I don't mind you hanging out here to build some kind of contraption and I can get over it when you break company equipment during one of your crazy little experiments, but when you start destroying whole swaths of the city for no reason, that's crossing the line."

Kaden crossed his arms and scowled indignantly, "I did too have a reason," he countered.

Sam shook her head in disbelief, "What was the point of this, then?" she demanded, throwing her hands up in the air for emphasis . "I've been going over the records from the Guard's communications band-"

"Which you couldn't even do had I not installed the system," interjected Kaden.

"Shut up," Sam ordered before continuing her rant. "They say you were spotted speeding down the skyway in District Eight and then I heard about all of the destruction that followed. Usually I can get to sleep at night by telling myself that I was just helping you out of trouble when your experiments went bad, but this… this was nothing but madness!"

Kaden glared back at her, "It was not simple madness," he insisted sternly. "First off, Zakon would have looked like a fool if he'd prepared so many of the Praetorian’s resources and I didn't even show up. They'd call him paranoid or mad. I couldn't let my good buddy go through that, so I had to at least say goodbye."

"So starting a mad chase through the city and causing millions of bolts in property damage is your way of saying goodbye?" questioned Sam.

Kaden shrugged with a self-satisfied smile, but then changed his demeanor when Sam's eyes narrowed into angry slits, "Not at all," he assured her. "The trip through the city was just to get all the personnel out of the 4th precinct. I knew that with Lexi getting so riled up, he'd order every available unit under his command after me."

Most of Sam's expression still spoke of disappointment, but she couldn't help but raise a curious eyebrow, "So then, oh Great Villain of Valmecha, what did you do to the 4th precinct?"

Kaden smiled.

* * *

Two Praetorian Guard maintenance workers were currently sitting in front of the 4th precinct building while enjoying a well-deserved break. One of the maintenance workers, a robot named Buzz was liberally applying lubricants to his squeaking joints while his partner, a brown-furred Lombax named Charlie, drank from his canteen of water as he studied the wall before them.

They had both just finished the task of wiping and reinstalling the control A.I.s of every wild B.R.A.D. maintenance drone in the entire department. Somehow a foreign virus had been downloaded to their systems earlier this morning and with all of the commotion caused by the need to get the experimental Sentinel-class armored unit ready for action, the entire maintenance staff had been much too busy to notice the little spider-like robots scuttling around and doing their own thing.

"Personally, I like it," declared Charlie with a nod of his head.

"You would," replied Buzz metallically without looking up from his task of lubricating himself. "You organics and your hormones, do you even think about anything else?"

Charlie scowled at his friend, "No!" he groaned, "not like that. I mean I like the way he tastefully used the main entrance and the two large windows on the third floor. This here is a work of art and there’s nothing 'hormonal' about why."

Buzz stopped oiling his joints and took another look at the image drawn on the building's front wall, "This is beauty to you?" he asked at last, unsure if he had the right definition of 'art' in his vocabulary processor.

Charlie shrugged, "Well, of course I wish he hadn't used Zakon for the head, but the rest of it is definitely beautifully done. In fact, the old man doesn't look half bad with those long flowing locks. Maybe he should think about growing out his scalp fur."

Buzz's ocular sensors continued to scan up and down the vandalized building wall carefully, "Even that part?" he continued to question with a jab from one of his three metallic fingers.

Charlie followed the finger's direction to the large words written across the very top of the building which spelled out the phrase 'Kaden Was Here' in bright red lettering.

"Oh, well that," began Charlie with the air of a professional critic, "That's a separate piece, but I'd still consider it art because of its ironic message."

"Ironic message?" intoned Buzz curiously. "And what message is that?"

Charlie smiled...

* * *

"Because I was never actually there!" exclaimed Kaden. "I did it all through the maintenance bots and yet I still technically did it, so I was there, but not!"

Sam stared dumbfounded at the young Lombax before her. Just like with the things he did to anger her, she had always thought that she'd get used to Kaden's particular brand of brilliant crazy, but each and every time she couldn't help but be rendered speechless by his actions.

"But why would…" Sam started to say before thinking better of it, shaking her head dismissively, and leaning back in her chair. "I give up," she breathed out in defeat before putting her hand over her face. "It's a good thing you're leaving today, because I honestly don't think I can take getting roped into another one of your crazy stunts."

Kaden smiled, "Oh don’t be like that. I know you’ll miss me when I’m gone. Do you want a hug?"

"Ha!" laughed Sam harshly while smacking her hand down on her desk. "The only hug I want from you is the one where my hands hug your scrawny neck tightly and never let go."

Kaden winced playfully, but continued to smile, "You know hiding your true feelings behind walls of aggression and anger hurts us both," he lectured with pretend sadness.

Sam rolled her eyes before one of the holo-monitors behind her flashed red. She turned around to read it and groaned as she saw the data, "Blasted reactor three," she muttered to herself darkly. "I'd like to see it go one council-condemned day without blowing a thermal dissipator."

Sam's eyes began to flick around in their sockets without appearing to be look at anything. This was a clear sign of someone using their NID. After a few seconds she began to speak aloud to someone besides Kaden, "Yeah it's me and yes it's that damn reactor again," she said to the unseen figure. "Try and patch it as best you can, but if it gets any worse we'll have to requisition another one." She then blinked hard and turned back to Kaden.

"Something I could help with?" he offered genuinely.

Sam shook her head at the proposal, "No thanks, Kaden, I think you've caused enough trouble today."

"Oh come on,” countered Kaden indignantly “Reactor three is just a simple positronic sub-vector generator, I could fix it in my sleep."

"Oh yeah?" replied Sam with a sadistic and knowing grin. “You mean like how you fixed power lift? Or the raw material crane? Wait no, you must mean like how you fixed the brand new plasma generator for the smelters.”

Kaden’s face soured as Sam listed some of his most famous screw-ups and he looked away in embarrassment, "I was just a kid, I’ve gotten way better since then," he said in his defense, “I used to help out all the time when my dad worked here,” he added bitterly.

Sam looked at the pitiful expression on Kaden’s face and smiled lightly at him. It was true that when Cerdas was working at Fur and Steel, Kaden was around almost every day helping his father out with some project or learning about the equipment. Sure the kid had made a few mistakes, ones Sam refused to let him live down, but Kaden's abilities had always amazed her. Even back then he could probably have put half the engineers in the company to shame… at least if he hadn't needed his naptime.

As Sam recalled her long history with Kaden and his father, nostalgia began to wash over her, "How is your dad, by the way?" she asked with a soft smile and a distant look in her eye.

"Still unavailable," answered Kaden bluntly.

All at once, the good, nostalgic feeling Sam had just been experiencing was shattered like brittle glass as her sweet memories were pushed aside by a single bad one.

With her soft smile now bend sarcastically, Sam held out her hand and moved it back and forth between herself and Kaden for emphasis, "This… this right here is what I'm going to miss," she spat sarcastically. "Me pulling your sorry tail out of the flames for the millionth time and you repaying that kindness by bringing up embarrassing history that I'd rather forget.”

Kaden opened his mouth in sheer amazement at the hypocrisy, “And what about you. Every time I come here you always find a way to work in a jab at my few legitimate mistakes,” retorted Kaden.

“Oh yes, let’s compare your wanton destruction of equipment and the ensuing thousands of bolts in company costs to the mistakes in my personal life,” spat back Sam. “Besides, I told you that I hadn't known about your father's… eh, ‘situation’ at that time."

"You mean married to my mother?" Kaden asked with a condescending tone.

Sam fought to control her anger and began rubbing her temples. She stopped and took a deep, calming breath before replying, "Yes Kaden," she began slowly. "I meant, ‘married to your mother’. Now don't you have some other poor soul's life to ruin? You've only wrecked half the city, so I'm sure you've got plenty of other names still on your list."

Kaden thought about it for a little bit and shrugged, "I guess I probably should be getting back home soon. The train for the academy leaves in a few hours," he admitted before getting up and walking toward the door. "I'll be taking the teleporters over, by the way," he added as an afterthought.

Sam massaged the bridge of her nose gently, "Whatever, fine, just get going. I still have to find a way to explain why I requested that mag-rail activation before the Guard begin to investigate and figure out that it ‘coincidentally’ helped you to escape them," she informed him, knowing full well that he didn't really care.

Kaden revealed no signs of guilt at having put Sam in legal danger and simply stood in the doorway, "Bye, Sam," he said simply.

Sam just shook her head and waved him away like one would shoo a fly, before the young Lombax turned and the doors closed over his shrinking figure. 

Not having time to care about pleasantries, Sam spun her chair around and immediately went about the task of covering her tracks. She had already been deciding her course of action before Kaden had showed up and now all she needed to do was implement it.

Yesterday, she had given the order to bring in several tram cars full of broken-down building material. They had all been attached together in one massive unit to improve efficiency, but now she'd have to have them disconnected and just say that only half of it came in yesterday and the other half today.

"Tarvon," she said aloud after her NID had connected to her right hand bax, "I need you to have the tram we brought in yesterday broken in two and separated. Then make sure that the half with the most cheddar in it is moved back onto the receiving rail line with its own tram tag. I'd also prefer if it was done quietly." Sam knew that she could trust Tarvon, as he'd done several things like this in the past for her without a question, which was why his question this time was so weird.

"And why would I do that, boss?" he asked with a seemingly amused tone.

Sam creased her brown in confusion, "Because I just ordered a mag-rail activation to bring a tram in from the graveyard and there isn't one on the track now," she explained vaguely.

"Mag-rail activation?" questioned Tarvon with feigned ignorance. "I don't have any kind of record for a mag-rail activation today."

Sam only became more confused by Tarvon's words, "I just sent you a memo about it like five minutes ago. What do you mean there's no record of it?"

"Take a look for yourself," Tarvon answered simply.

Sam turned to face her monitors once again and her fingers quickly danced over a keypad, bringing up a data log for the mag-rail usage schedule. Her eyes scanned the digital document carefully, but there was no listing for a power flow redirect at the time Kaden had escaped on it.

She had just looked at the schedule a few minutes ago and knew for a fact that it had shown her company's request, clear as day. This was the Twelfth District’s public record too, so no one should have the authority to change it. "But how-" Sam started to say in bewilderment. 

"How indeed," intoned Tarvon knowingly before he disconnected the NID link.

Sam spun around in her chair and stared at the sealed double door to her office. As she let the thoughts in her head digest, she couldn't help but let a small, but somber smile spread across her lips before looking down and shaking her head slowly.

"Goodbye, Kaden," she said, before turning back to her monitors and returning to work.

* * *

Valmecha's second district was known as the housing district since its main purpose was to contain the homes for the vast majority of the city's population. It was also where Kaden lived. With a swipe of his hand, the door to apartment number 1408, residential building 66b, sub-district three slid open to reveal the familiar interior of Kaden's home.

"I'm back," he called as he stepped through the doorway and headed for the living room.

A female Lombax was standing in the living room as he entered and she turned around to face him as he approached, "Hello, Kaden," she said brightly. "How was your farewell party?"

This was Kaden's mother, Amara. Both her fur and her stripes were an extremely light shade of tan and brown respectively. Her fur itself was almost more of a cream color while her long brown hair matched that of her stripes.

"It was great," answered Kaden with a mischievous grin. "It did get a little out of hand for a bit, but I got everything settled back down."

Amara nodded proudly, "That's my little bax," she said, completely unaware that the commotion he was talking about was his fault to begin with, or that it had nothing to do with an actual party. "I was just about to bring your bags down from your room, so just give me a second and you'll be all set."

"Mom, you don't have to do that. I can bring them down myself," said Kaden.

Amara smiled at her son's thoughtfulness, "Oh you're so sweet, but I insist. It's your special day, after all. Why don't you go to the kitchen and get yourself a snack? I just finished a batch of sakara cakes."

At the mention of freshly baked sakara cakes, Kaden almost dashed off to the kitchen without another thought, but he was just barely able to hold himself back, "I mean it mom, really. I can take care of it myself,” he insisted as a dribble of saliva escaped the corner of his mouth.

However, Kaden knew that it'd be bad if his mother started digging through his room looking for his luggage, or worse, if she decided to take a look at what he'd actually packed inside his traveling cases. 

His insistence didn't go above suspicion, however, and his mother eyed him warily, "Why is it such a big deal?" she asked. "Can't I just take care of my son on his last day home?"

Kaden set his jaw firmly and stood his ground, "Mother, I'm not a little kid anymore. I don't need you to take care of me."

This was definitely the wrong thing to say, but Kaden realized it too late. Amara's eyes widened and her lips bent into a sad frown appearing almost on the verge of tears. Kaden tried to make a run for it, but he was no match for his mother's speed. She tackled him to the ground a moment later before wrapping him in a deep bear hug and lifting him clear off his feet.

"My little boy is all grown up and leaving home at age of sixteen!" she exclaimed almost in hysterics. "It's too soon. Most children don't leave for the academy until they're much older. Why did I have to be blessed with such a brilliant child?"

Kaden pushed hard against his mother's embrace for the sheer sake of preventing himself from being crushed, "I think I need to fine tune your avatar's sensory receptors," he gasped painfully as he heard robotic servos whine as Amara squeezed even tighter.

The holo-projections of Kaden's mother rippled around the robotic avatar's body as Kaden struggled against its embrace, "There's nothing wrong with my sensory readings, Kaden," she assured him. "This is just how much I love you."

"Love… hurts," was all Kaden could say before he felt his spine begin to move out of place.

Suddenly the pressure decreased dramatically and the intense bear hug became a gentle embrace, "I'm so sorry that your father and I couldn't be there with you to see you off," his mother suddenly apologized sadly.

Kaden wrapped his own arms around his mother's avatar the moment he'd regained the feeling in them, "That's OK, mom. It's not your fault."

Amara's eyes narrowed at Kaden's words, "No, but your father should at least be here," she countered angrily before the two of them separated. "The only reason he isn't is because he blew up another drilling rig and has to work overtime to fix it. I swear that man breaks more things than he actually builds. I'm just thankful that you took after me and not your walking disaster of a father. What kind of example does he think he's setting for you? It's a wonder you're not gallivanting through the city every other week causing trouble and chaos."

Kaden pursed his lips together tightly and prepared himself to lie through his teeth, "Y-yep," he croaked deceptively.

Amara breathed out a sigh and shook her head sadly before her expression softened and she smiled once more, "I forget what we were doing… Oh yes, sakara cakes," she repeated before turning and walking toward the kitchen.

Kaden quickly stretched out his body to make sure nothing had been crushed before he excitedly followed his mother to the kitchen. Halfway there, the smell of sweet pastries hit Kaden's nostrils and the physical effect that it had on his mind almost made him push past his mother in eagerness.

This made it almost maddening that she was walking slowly because she was still trying to talk to him, "I'm surprised that you got back so late," she commented casually.

Kaden barely heard a word, his mind and nostrils were too full of the sweet sugar scent of sakara as he marched stiffly behind her, "Mm hmm," he responded absentmindedly.

"Yes, I'm even more surprised that you didn't mention it to Sorana before you left her party," she continued.

Amara walked through the kitchen entrance and Kaden used the opening to make a beeline for the oven in the corner where a tray of tiny round cakes sat in a thermal stasis field to keep them warm. He didn't even bother to lower the field before he reached in to grab his prize.

"Mention what?" Kaden asked subconsciously as he fought to hold a piping hot sakara cake in each hand.

"Mention when you'd be back home," answered Amara. "She thought you'd have been back by now and has been waiting here patiently for over half an hour."

Kaden, a whole cake stuffed halfway into his mouth, froze on the spot. It was only then that he finally noticed the chill that was in the atmosphere. His heart began to beat loudly in his ears as he slowly turned, cake still in gob. 

Sitting at the kitchen table, with elegant poise and calm demeanor, was a young, female Lombax close to Kaden's age. Her fur was a brilliant, pure white that was accented by soft silver stripes. Her hair was long and flowed evenly down her back. It was also white, but with the subtlest hint of blue that almost made it seem to glow.

Her eyes were a deep blue and they sparkled with an icy cold rage that Kaden was only able to discern after so many years of seeing it. Her smile was refined and subtle to anyone else, but to Kaden it gravely warned of a furious storm that brewed just behind it. He was soooooo busted!

"Hello Kaden," said Sorana softly in a voice that wasn't anything like shout, but still snapped across Kaden's ears like a whip. "I was just telling your mother about how much fun we had during the ‘farewell party’ at ‘my’ house last night."

Kaden tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry, "Y-you were?" he stammered. "Uh, w-what part in particular?"

Sorana tilted her head to the side thoughtfully, but not breaking her gaze even slightly, "Let's see, I believe I had just finished explaining to your mother that I had thought you'd be home by now because you didn't mention where you were going when you left ‘my house’ earlier today," Sorana explained as she rotated her teacup playfully in its saucer. "Where did you say you were going again?"

"I, uh…" Kaden began as his mind desperately searched for an excuse. "I was going to visit Sam down in District Twelve," he declared and was surprised to find how much truth there was to his statement.

"Oh, Samantha!" interrupted Kaden's mother, completely unaware of the tense atmosphere in her kitchen. "That explains why you wanted that lunch box. How has she been doing?"

Kaden tried to respond, but he couldn't bring himself to turn his gaze away from Sorana's, "She's doing alright," he answered distractedly. “Busy with work as usual.”

Sorana's expression and piercing gaze weren't dissuaded by Kaden's explanation, "In that case, I'm surprised you made it back here at all," she commented suspiciously as she raised her cup to her lips. "Apparently Skyway 538 was closed down earlier this morning. I even had a hard time with traffic on my way here. How did you manage to get there and back?"

Kaden was ready to respond this time, "I took my hoverboard," he explained quickly. This was also technically not a lie and besides, Kaden never took public transportation anyway.

His mother let out a sigh and shook her head in displeasure, "You know I hate it when you go flying all over Valmecha on that council dismissed thing," she lectured. "In such a big city it's just far too dangerous."

Kaden couldn't help but smirk slightly at his mother's comment, forgetting for the briefest of instants the situation that he was in. Immediately he tried to hide the expression, but it was too late, Sorana had seen it and her eyes widened just enough for Kaden to know that he had just dug himself a deeper grave.

"Well, either way, it's nice to hear that Samantha is doing well,” noted Amara sincerely. “Sorana, would you like some more?" she added upon seeing Sorana drain the last of her cup.

Sorana gave Kaden's mother her well-practiced smile of appreciation, "Yes please, I would love another cup of your delicious tea," she said with a small, respectful bow of her head.

"My how proper," noted Kaden's mother gleefully before turning to her own son. "If only this one could have picked up some of your grace and etiquette. Go sit down Kaden before you get crumbs all over the floor. I'll get you something to drink as well."

Kaden had forgotten that he was holding two handfuls of sakara cake. Slowly he began to move toward the table where Sorana sat with her eyes following him the whole way like a security turret tracking a target. 

He made it to the table and took his seat directly across from her without breaking eye contact. Kaden's mother then placed a cup and a plate in front of her son before refilling Sorana's cup with a teapot

Sorana immediately took a sip of the lightly steaming liquid and sighed with satisfaction, "You know, I've tasted some of the most expensive and refined teas from all over the galaxy, but as always, none of them compare to your mother's, Kaden."

Amara put her free hand on her cheeks and smiled bashfully at the compliment, "Oh Sorana, it's always such a great pleasure to have you over," she swooned. "You're much too good for my son. You even came all the way here just to pick him up and help him pack his luggage." Suddenly, Amara's expression changed as if she had just remembered something. "That's right, the bags," she muttered to herself before quickly putting down the pitcher and hurrying out of the kitchen.

Kaden instinctively made a move to stop her, but was barely able to get an inch off his seat before Sorana's ice cold glare froze him in place. His mother's presence was the only thing holding Sorana's seething anger in check and she was now quickly walking out of earshot.

Kaden listened intently to the sound of his mother's footsteps as they grew softer down the hall. Sorana said nothing and made no moves while they could still be heard. She wouldn't, of course. Not until she was sure Kaden was the only one that could hear her. The footsteps became like a ticking bomb’s countdown to Kaden's mind and then... they were gone.

Sorana gently put her teacup down and then her elegant demeanor melted like ice and her face finally matched the anger beneath it, "What did you do?" she hissed quietly, but fiercely.

Kaden cringed at the harsh tone, "Uh, what do you mean?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

This did not improve Sorana's mood, "Oh, I don't know, maybe it has something to do with you lying to your mother about being over my house last night?!"

Kaden's eyes shifted rapidly from right to left as he tried to avoid eye contact, "I told you, I was visiting Sam over in District Twelve," he insisted.

Sorana's eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't need an excuse to be gone all night if you were just visiting someone this morning. Now, either you tell me what you were really doing last night or I'll tell your mother the truth about what you've been up to."

Kaden crossed his arms and summoned up all of his courage, "You won't do that," he declared defiantly. "You've already told her that I was at your house. If you rat me out now, you'll stain your perfect image."

Sorana leaned across the table to within inches of Kaden’s face and her angry stare transformed into a deeply wicked grin, "Oh Kaden, I wasn't talking about today," she whispered cruelly. "No, not when there are so many other wonderful stories I could tell."

And there it was, Sorana's trump card over Kaden. The two Lombaxes had known each other since primary school and since then Sorana had been Kaden's number one outlet for his most guarded secrets. Virtually every act of misconduct he'd ever committed, from the morally grey to the blatantly criminal, he had told Sorana about. She even claimed to have proof of his deeds, too. Not even Sam was in possession of hard evidence proving Kaden's illegal actions, he had been sure to cover his tracks even from her. That left Sorana as the sole weakness in Kaden's otherwise perfect criminal career and she knew it.

Kaden's ears drooped down the sides of his head as he slumped in defeat, "Fine," he moped. "I'll tell you, but not here. Mom might overhear us."

Sorana leaned back and considered the proposal, "Very well," she agreed at last, "but don't think I'll forget about this."

Kaden didn't respond. Instead he simply looked down at his uneaten sakara cakes and sulked. Sorana shook her head and rolled her eyes at her friend's childlike behavior. She of course should have known better by now. This was just how Kaden was. It was true that he was younger than her, but only by a year. Kaden's glum expression was soon broken, however, by a look of sudden wariness.

He turned back to Sorana and eyed her suspiciously, "What did my mother mean when she said you came over to help pack my luggage?" he asked.

Sorana sat back down and reached for her tea again before answering, "Exactly what it sounds like," she explained callously. "I know what a mess you make of simple tasks like that, so I came over and made sure you had everything you needed to live on your own at Nova."

"But I already packed my bags," countered Kaden with concern starting to creep into his expression.

"I know," replied Sorana with a slight, knowing smile, "that's why I ‘repacked’ them for you. And, like I thought, you had packed a little too much ‘extra’."

Kaden's eyes widened in horror, "You mean they're-" he began fearfully.

"Yes Kaden, they're gone," answered Sorana coldly before he'd finished the question.

"All of them?" he croaked despondently at the thought of going off to Nova without them.

Sorana's brow creased in confusion, "How many did you have?" she asked in surprise.

"Just one," answered Kaden much too quickly.

Sorana's face darkened again and she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say another word, Kaden's mother came walking back into the kitchen. Sorana's face then immediately flipped back into its elegantly neutral expression and she returned to sipping her tea as if nothing had happened. A small grin curled the corners of Kaden's lips as he felt an immense pressure lift, but the small smile died a moment later when he caught Sorana's glaring eyes once again. They told him that this conversation was far from over.

* * *

After a long and tearful goodbye (on Amara's part at least), Kaden and Sorana walked out of the apartment's rear door and onto their balcony as it sealed shut behind them. Waiting outside was a long, sleek hover-limo that belonged to Sorana's family. Standing next to it and holding the door open, was Sorana's robotic maid servant C.A.M.

Cam smiled at Sorana with bright, glowing green eyes, "Ready to go Miss Bellit?" asked the robot cheerfully. "I've already packed Mr. Kaden's luggage, we can leave whenever you are ready."

Sorana nodded her head in acknowledgement and appreciation, "Thank you, Cam. We'll be going straight to the train station," she commanded.

Cam bowed obediently as Sorana got in and then raised her head to look at Kaden as he was about to follow.

Her eyes shifted from green to red and her ocular shutters narrowed scornfully, "Demon spawn," she hissed scathingly, but just quiet enough for only Kaden to hear.

"Scrap heap," he replied flatly, before stepping inside the vehicle.

The door was shut behind him and he took his seat across from Sorana while the robotic maid walked back to the driver's seat. As he sat, Sorana eyed him carefully. The vehicle hummed to life as its capacitors charged and a moment later, Kaden and Sorana felt a shift in their momentum. Kaden's home disappeared in the windows behind him and he was off at last.

"Explain," Sorana ordered, breaking the silence immediately.

"Explain what, exactly?" answered Kaden, trying to find out how much she actually knew.

This had been the wrong answer. Sorana's ears flattened back against her head in the Lombax display of aggression. She then reached down to grab a small electronic stick, without taking her eyes off of Kaden, and held it up to show him. 

The device was a personal data assistant that acted as an interaction device for a standard Lombax NID. Kaden had his NID's control device wired into his brain, which allowed him to work it with just a thought. Sorana's NID on the other hand was just a basic version, little more than an antenna and a small data storage device.

Two metal prongs popped out to the sides of the electronic device and a holo-screen was projected between them, "Explain ‘this’." she repeated hotly.

Displayed on the projected holo-screen was an image of a male, tan-furred Lombax who was wearing a blacked out helmet visor. The Lombax was standing in a mall and grinning widely while giving the thumbs up to the camera. Kaden's eyes widened slightly at the image in surprise. Not only was he confused as to how Sorana had been able to find the photo so quickly, but also because he didn’t even remember pausing to pose for more pictures after he'd tossed his board into the food court at the mall.

"That could be anybody," defended Kaden. "I'm sure there's at least… two other Lombaxes in this city who are that good looking."

Sorana inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly to calm herself before she shut off her PDA and leaned back in her chair. She had played this game far too many times with Kaden and wasn't in the mood to do it again today.

"What did I tell you Kaden?" she asked rhetorically. "I called you up less than a minute after I found out we'd both been selected to attend Nova this year and the first thing I said was 'Don't do anything illegal'. If you had been caught or if they had any kind of proof that may have linked you to the act, then they could have at least held you here in the city and you'd have missed the train.

"It was no big deal," Kaden tried to assure her. "All I did was fly around the city for a bit and annoy some of the Guard. Since any idiot can get their hands on a holo-guise, they'd need more than a few photos to prove that's me. Even if they did manage to catch me, they could never prove I did much more than fly through a no-hoverboarding area. They couldn't hold me for more than a week."

"That's not the point!" shouted Sorana angrily, causing Kaden to jump at her uncharacteristically loud outburst. "Nova Academy would notice if a new student didn't show up with the rest. If they see that you're involved in a pending criminal investigation, they might revoke your selection! And then we wouldn't be able to go to school together!"

About a second after she finished talking Sorana's expression suddenly changed from one of anger to one of surprise, seemingly at her own words. She looked away from Kaden and stared at the floor instead. 

When she spoke again it was in an almost hushed tone, "The point is that you gave me your word you wouldn't do anything reckless. You never think about the consequences of your actions, Kaden."

Now Kaden averted his eyes to the floor. It was true that he had agreed not to do anything to aggravate the Guard after he'd been selected to attend Nova, but that had been before he'd found out about the extent that Zakon was going to in preparation. At some point along the way he had just forgotten about his promise and got caught up in the excitement. 

This was Kaden's real problem with laws and authority. It wasn't that he actively tried to commit crimes (excluding today), it was that he always got so caught up in what he wanted to do and things that interested him that little things like rules and regulations, and even promises, were brushed aside in his mind.

Still, that was no excuse. It was very rare that Kaden felt genuine guilt for anything he ever did, but this was one of those times, "I'm sorry," he mumbled honestly.

Sorana didn't respond to his words. The Limo was quiet after that and it was a long time before the two Lombaxes began to speak again.

* * *

The Limousine pulled up to the main entrance of the sky train station and stopped to let Sorana and Kaden get out. Sorana gave Cam a few instructions to have their luggage taken to the underground loading station before she and Kaden continued into the main building.

The inside of the station was huge, just what you'd expect from a place built to board a massively oversized transport vehicle like a sky train. Unlike trams and other public city transportation, skytrains moved fully on their own power and flew free of any guiding rails or anchored stability fields. They were the planet's primary means of intercity travel.

The Tele-transit system was another option for travelers, but most common teleportation techniques become dangerous and power inefficient over longer distances. They were mostly just for close ranged jumps such as Kaden had done to get from District Twelve to District Two. The sky trains however, made up for this lack of long distance capability easily. Their monstrous engines were strong enough to zip them across a planet's surface several times in a day, providing quick and efficient travel to all of Fastoon.

Kaden and Sorana eventually made it to their designated train platform and couldn't help but be impressed by its size. It was the platform all the way in the back of the station that was reserved only for the biggest and/or most prestigious of sky trains. The one that they were waiting for was both.

Once every solar cycle, Nova Academy's private skytrain, the Quasar Express, traveled all over the planet picking up newly selected students. The event acted as a grand metaphor about how Nova Academy scours the planet for the best and brightest young Lombaxes. Nova Academy's admittance policy was strict, though. Students didn't apply to enroll in the school like most. Instead, the academy itself sought out and chose students that it believed would be most suited to attend. It did so regardless of age or social status; all that mattered was a person's potential.

The school's sky train was even famous enough to warrant the massive crowd of people that had packed the platform to get a look at it. Literally hundreds of Lombaxes stood almost shoulder to shoulder just waiting for the transport to show up. However, it was likely that fewer than fifty of them were actually here intent on boarding it when it arrived.

The Lombaxes who did intend to get on were all standing at front most edge of the boarding platform, clearly separated from the rest. It was a small group of Lombaxes who were all about the same age as Kaden and Sorana. It was with them that the two patiently waited for their ride to come while passing the time by chatting casually and wondering about what the train would be like.

They waited for a little while, then, a loud whistle blew from somewhere in the distance. It penetrated the high walls of the station and silenced every conversation at once. Everyone craned their heads eagerly to look out the train gate opening. Seconds later, the Quasar Express crested a building in the distance and cheers rang out from the crowds as they watched it come to gather the finest of Valmecha's students.

It quickly crossed the distance to the station and entered through the train gate before decelerating rapidly with the hiss of kinetic dissipators. The chatter began anew as the massive machine finally came to a complete halt. All around the station spectators were gawking and commenting on the transport's appearance. 

Then, once again, every voice was sharply silenced, this time with a dazzling flash of light. Bright beams lanced out across the walls and ceiling of the station. They danced brilliantly around the room for a short time before coming together above the train's roof and forming a holographic image. The hazy cloud of light began to focus itself and the form of a female Lombax from the waist up materialized from it. She looked down at all the would-be students with glowing holographic eyes.

"Congratulations!" she bellowed formally. "By being able to stand here today, you have all proven yourselves to be among the best and brightest of your homes and surrounding areas. I am Vasile Tor'doran, the dean of Nova Academy. Today you each take the next step on your journey to fulfilling your potential as members of Lombax race. And that next step is literally just through these doors." 

At the exact moment Tor'doran finished talking, several doors along the side of the train hissed open and clouds of mist spewed dramatically from them. Two robotic porters then stepped out from the foggy veil of each door before flanking the doorway and bowing in welcome to the gathered students.

After the mist had settled, the hologram spoke once again, "Now come forth for your student verification. Only those special few who have been accepted will be permitted to board. Once you are verified, you may take your seats. Final destination: Nova Academy," and with those last words the hologram of Tor'doran disappeared, leaving excited Lombaxes to line up and get scanned.

A few students turned back to the crowds behind them and said final goodbyes to their family and friends. Some even looked saddened, but no one cried, because no matter how sad you were about leaving, no one could regret going.

Kaden could feel the light rumble of machinery moving beneath his feet as everyone's larger luggage was being loaded into the undercarriage of the train, which was below the platform and completely out of sight. Any carry-on luggage could be given to the porters to carry for them if they wanted. Kaden was wearing his special backpack of gadgets and devices that he never went anywhere without and Sorana carried a simple traveling bag while the two of them waited for their turn to be scanned.

Suddenly an alarm went off nearby, causing everyone in the room to turn and look at its source. One of the porters was holding a young Lombax by the wrist as they desperately tried to run away. Kaden had noticed that all the porters take a subtle, but firm grip on the students' wrists while scanning them, this was clearly the reason why. 

There was another hiss of hydraulics and two large, armored robot guards stepped out of a previously closed train doorway and slowly walked up to the terrified Lombax. Grabbing a shoulder each they lifted kid clean off the ground and carried him, still squirming furiously, through a quickly parting crowd and out of the platform entrance gateway.

While everyone watched them leave,the Lombax hologram reappeared and a now smug looking version of Vasile Tor'doran beamed down at them again, "Let me be clear," she began firmly. "Only those who are ‘chosen’ are permitted in my school. Those that try to gain entry without permission, and fail..." she paused and smiled as several bright strobes of white light flashed in the windows of the closed platform gateway, they were soon followed by a high-pitched whine and finally a ringing thump. Then there was silence,"...will be punished accordingly," the dean finished. From the hologram’s expression, it almost looked like the woman was trying to repress a fit of laughter before image dissolved away again.

Kaden got a sense of foreboding as he knew disputes with authority figures were almost unavoidable for him and he was unsure of what his future held. Regardless, he and Sorana boarded the train without further interruption and moved down the rows of compartments, looking for an empty one to take. Kaden was also paying close attention to the number plates engraved on the doors for some reason while the porter carrying Kaden's backpack and Sorana's travel bag followed behind them.

"Look Kaden, this one's empty," suggested Sorana, indicating an empty compartment she'd found. Kaden examined the compartment in question as well as its number plate.

"Nah, this one isn't right," he concluded.

"What's wrong with it?" Sorana asked, unsure of what difference there could be between it and any other compartment.

"Just trust me, I'll find a better one," he assured her before continuing off down the aisle again.

Sorana sighed tiredly and then followed him through the train. In her experience it was better to simply let Kaden do as he pleased in these kinds of situations. Eventually he did pick one, though. 

The room had a lavish circular couch taking up most of it and a small bar for drinks. Touch panels set in the walls allowed control of the compartment's features such as lights and the door lock. They took their seats as the train's whistle blew again, marking the start of their departure before the platform’s columns and people on the other side of the window began to move away from it. The porter placed their bags in the under-seat compartments before bowing and leaving.

The train began to move a second later and the two friends sat there studying the room where they'd be spending the next several hours. Sorana smiled as she looked out the window and watched the city buildings fly by. 

She seemed to have forgiven Kaden for the time being since, in the end, nothing truly bad had happened and he was glad to see that her mood was finally back to its usual, cheerful self.

"There it goes," she said with a wide, but somewhat somber smile. "Even though I'm excited to see Nova Academy, it's kind of sad to be leaving Valmecha after such a long time."

Kaden hadn't bothered to get up from his seat to see Valmecha one last time as Sorana had, "I don't see what the big deal, it's not like Valmecha's going anywhere and it's not like you'll never see it again," he countered.

Sorana gave him a rye sideways glance, "Oh yes, I forgot that you don't have a heart," she retorted. "How can you not feel anything? This is the place we were born, where we've lived in up until this very day… the place where we first met. This is our home."

Kaden shrugged indifferently, "Was," he corrected her.

Sorana glared at him for a short while before shaking her head and returning to watch Valmecha disappear into the horizon. As the seconds ticked by, however, Kaden too couldn't help but remember some of the things he'd done in his home city. The things he's built, the things he's destroyed, the things he built for the purpose of destroying. He also clearly recalled people he'd met. Working with his father and Sam, eating his mother's cooking, fighting with Zakon… meeting Sorana. 

As these memories forced their way through his head, he began to feel an unfamiliar sensation. After making sure Sorana wouldn't see, Kaden finally looked out the window and saw the very edge of Valmecha receding into the corner of the class.

_ 'Farewell,' _ he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sakara Cakes- Sakara, or at least part of it, means sugary in some other language. I lost the notes about where I had derived it from, so I don’t know for sure. I also think Saluber Root and Melliculis Jelly have some greater meaning, but their origins were probably on the same file.
> 
> Sorana Bellit - I don’t know where the idea for the name ‘Sorana’ came from, but I came up with it before I ever wrote a word of this book. ‘Bellit’, on the other hand, comes from the latin word ‘Bellitudo’, which means beauty and elegance.
> 
> Vasile Tor'doran - Both the name Vasile and Tor’doran I used off the top of my head, but I had an old version of Microsoft Word that kept correcting ‘Tor’doran’ to just ‘Tor’. Curious, I looked it up and it turns out that ‘Tor’ is a geological term for: “a large, free-standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest”. This was an amazing coincidence since Nova Academy is based on/in a mountain and the Dean would essentially be the head of it. Blew my mind really and is the reason why it’s one of my favorite names.


	6. The Quasar Express

Sorana leaned back in her seat, having just watched the last bit of Valmecha vanish into the distance, and then turned to face Kaden once more. The tension between the two of them had still not fully dissipated, but this was something that Sorana wanted. 

In the many years that Sorana had known Kaden, she had always found it difficult to stay mad at him. Seeing him do reckless things and break rules had become so commonplace to her, that she was barely even fazed by it anymore. However, she knew that she couldn't just let him get away with his misdeeds. To that end, she often stayed upset with him a bit longer than it actually took her to get over whatever disaster he'd caused. Though she admitted that it was a little deceiving, she felt that it was necessary in order to keep a young Lombax like him as much in line as was possible .

Kaden's most recent act of not only rampaging through the city, but doing so after Sorana had expressly told him not to, warranted a very long cold treatment. However, she was finding it hard to maintain her off-putting demeanor during such a joy filled time. She wanted desperately to just enjoy this trip on the planetary famous Quasar Express with her close friend. Luckily, she was able to stoke the flames of her anger by reminding herself that it was Kaden's fault that she couldn't do that. 

On the other hand, Kaden seemed to be handling the trip just fine. Almost immediately after the train had left Valmecha station, he had begun to play around with one of the touch-panel control switches above the seats.

"What are you doing now?" Sorana asked him as flatly as she could, though she was sure she would either not understand what he was doing or not want to know.

"Just some adjustments," Kaden answered distractedly as he continued to fiddle with the device.

Sorana watched him work for a short while and tried to discern what was going through his head by studying how his face contorted into various expressions as he flipped through the panel's controls. To her it seemed like he was having trouble accomplishing what he wanted to do. That was when he pulled a small knife-like tool from seemingly thin air and raised it up to the panel's edges.

Sorana almost jumped out of her seat when she saw what he was about to do, "Kaden, you'd better not-"

But she was too late to stop him from prying the panel's screen partially out of the wall. He then pulled it out completely, letting it hang from the bundle of wires that still connected it through an open square hole, before he began digging through the wires in search of something.

"Don't worry," said Kaden offhandedly without looking up from what he was doing. "I'll put it back when I'm done and no one will know any better."

As he spoke, he removed a small device from his bag and began detaching various wires from the panel before placing them into the device.

Sorana was stunned silent by his actions. It wasn't so much 'what' he was doing that surprised her, but rather that he was doing it right in front of her while she was still 'angry'. Somewhere in her mind Sorana had been hoping that moving away from home would give Kaden a chance to start over, but it seemed that fairytale dream was dying before they even arrived.

"I can't believe you," she began to scold with genuine anger. "You're just determined to get yourself in trouble today, aren't you? Or are you just trying to get on my nerves?"

Kaden seemed to have finished what he was doing and finally turned to face Sorana, "Of course not," he declared defensively. "I don't ever intentionally try to annoy you. You just always seem determined to focus on the negatives. In fact, once I finally break whatever stupid encryption is on this control panel, I'll bet you'll even be pleased," he assured her confidently.

Sorana's face darkened slightly, "You're hacking the Quasar Express?" she questioned in a tone that was the opposite of pleased.

"See!" shouted Kaden accusingly, "You immediately hone in on anything negative and you don't even bother to look on the positive side."

"That's because there is no positive side with you," retorted Sorana. "Today alone you've broken dozens of city, federal, planetary, and probably even galactic laws, nearly gotten yourself killed, broke what I'm sure is your all-time record for total property damage done in a day, lied to your mother, and even broke your word to me. That seems pretty negative, or did I miss anything else?"

Kaden set his jaw firmly in place and didn't say anything. This was mostly because it was the first time he'd heard all of his most recent misdeeds summed up like that and it had left him without a response. It was also because he was trying to hide a small grin that threatened to reveal itself after he realized that he had in fact broken his property damage record.

The two eyed each other, Sorana's gaze daring Kaden to try and argue against her. Then, Kaden's expression changed as he got an update from his NID and he quickly returned to fiddling with the control panel. With a smile across his face, he lifted up the dangling screen and began to press through a series of icons, before the screen went blank and was replaced by a rotating shaded circle.

Kaden then released the panel and stood up, "It's all done," he informed Sorana while looking very pleased with himself.

Sorana was still mad, but genuinely curious as to what gave Kaden the ability to brush off her verbal assault so easily, "What's all don-" she began to ask, but she was interrupted by a soft rumbling coming from the floor and walls.

Slowly the small room that was their compartment began to extend away from the train. As it did so, the two curved couches began to move around the interior. Sorana stood up in surprise when her previously stationary seat shifted to a new position on the floor. She joined Kaden in the center as she watched them rotate around her. 

Then the compartment stopped vibrating and the seats came to a halt in a position that was ninety degrees from their origin. One was now blocking the compartment's entrance while the other had placed itself directly under the compartment window. Everything was eerily quiet after that and Sorana was about to ask what the point of it had been, but before she could, the walls, floor and ceiling all disappeared.

Sorana let out a terrified shriek of surprise and jumped backwards after suddenly finding herself floating through the air with nothing to hold onto except for her friend. Kaden had managed to catch her after she'd sprung frightfully toward him, but he was having a tough time keeping them both from falling over as Sorana continued to fidget violently in panic. 

It took a few seconds of holding her steady before her higher mental functions began to take over and she was able to realize that, although she couldn't see the room anymore, she could still feel the floor and she couldn't feel the wind.

With her mouth agape, Sorana looked around in confusion before turning to face Kaden, whom she was still clinging to, "What…" was all she could say as words failed to come out of her now dry throat.

Kaden smiled cheerfully at her, "It's called an observation compartment," he explained. "I looked up the design plans for the Quasar Express on the holonet a few days ago. While I read through it, I came across the details about it. They said that these compartments could extend out from the train and turn its outward facing wall and seating invisible. Though, the feature had been locked out for this trip, so I had to do a little tweaking to get it to work, but I think this should be worth it."

Sorana was now rapidly moving her gaze back and forth between the insanely high, dead drop that stretched out below them and the blatantly cheerful look on Kaden's face. Finally, complete comprehension dawned on Sorana's features, but the expression it caused had not been the one Kaden was expecting. With a mixed look of embarrassment and anger, Sorana punched Kaden squarely in the arm.

Kaden grunted in surprise and grabbed his arm painfully with the opposite hand, "Ah! What?!" he asked, utterly dumbfounded by her reaction.

Sorana pushed herself away from him, but began to stumble after suddenly finding herself flying through the air with nothing to hold onto. Kaden reached out instinctively to steady her again, but she held up a hand to stop him and recovered her footing on her own, before straightening herself up. 

She then started feeling around the room until she made contact with the invisible compartment wall and then used it to steady herself as she walked around to the still visible couch in front of the doorway. 

At last, after firmly placing her posterior into the seat and removing the loose hair from her face, Sorana took a steadying breath and fixed Kaden with an angry glare, "You're supposed to tell people before you make the ground disappear!" she growled furiously. "That settles it then, your goal today is clearly to make me as absolutely miserable as possible."

Kaden looked hurt, "No it's not," he countered honestly. "I thought you'd like it."

"And exactly which part of thinking I was going to fall to my death and being scared out of my fur was I supposed to like?" she demanded.

Kaden was downtrodden. He honestly hadn't expected Sorana to be mad. He simply shrugged as a response and moved to the side of the compartment. In doing so he moved out of the compartment’s forward view. With Kaden no longer in the way, Sorana was able to finally see the purpose of the compartment's feature… and it left her speechless.

The vast surface of Fastoon stretched out unobscured into the horizon before her. From where she sat in the now invisible room, she could see for miles in a dozen different directions. Clouds hovered intermittently around, making her feel like she was floating amongst them. The bright blue of the sky reached all the way to the very end of her vision. She could see the rays of Fastoon's sun shining down on the valley and hills below. She could clearly see both the tops of several clouds that blocked the light as well as the shadows they cast below. There was even a tall mountain in the distance that stretched high into the sky. It pierced through a wall of white cloud before reemerging on the other side where she was able to clearly see its peak. There would have been no way to see it from the ground.

Sorana then looked straight down through the clear floor and saw the ground far below. The compartment wasn't completely invisible. Its walls had only vanished up to the part that would have been blocked by the rest of the train. However, this didn't impede the miraculous view. There was more than enough scenery to make her feel lost in the sky as she sat on what felt like the edge of existence.

It took almost a minute before she finally began to recover from her astonishment. It was only afterward that she remembered Kaden who was off to her side. He was once again looking extraordinarily pleased with himself, which Sorana soon realized was because of her stunned expression. She quickly tried to cover up her amazement, but it was already far too late.

"Fine," she sighed reluctantly.

Kaden raised his arms up in joy and did a small victory strut around the small compartment to celebrate. Sorana tried not to look at him as he did so. It was always hard to stay mad at Kaden, mostly because he had a tendency to pull things like this almost as often as he broke the law. The truth was that Sorana had very much been looking forward to seeing the expanse of Fastoon from far above on the skytrain and this surprise from Kaden was like a dream come true, but, by accidentally letting him know that, she felt like she'd lost somehow.

At last Kaden finished his victory dance and then walked over to Sorana before sitting down on the couch next to her. This came as a small surprise to her as she realized how close together they were. With the other couch invisible, it was obvious that Kaden wouldn't want to sit on it and even if he did, he'd be right in the way of the view. 

The only remaining couch had been shrunk in order to accommodate the drink bar on the end of it. Even though the seat was made for two people to fit comfortably, somehow having all the room of the sky made sitting together seem… even closer. If Kaden was thinking of anything similar however, he showed no signs as he eagerly explored the contents of the drink bar.

"Would you like anything?" he asked Sorana courteously while his one hand moved around on the other side of the clear refrigeration barrier.

"Oh, uh sure. Anything's fine," she answered after being interrupted from her musings.

Kaden nodded and pulled out two neon green bottles and handed one to Sorana. She looked at the bright, almost glowing, drink and mentally chided herself. She should have known Kaden would grab the strangest looking thing they had. She drank it regardless and the two of them sat together while enjoying the amazing view.

However, as the seconds passed in silence, Sorana just couldn't seem to get comfortable. She was close enough to Kaden to feel his body heat and hear his, admittedly loud, breathing and occasional slurping. This caused a pervasive feeling of awkwardness to linger no matter how much she tried to banish it from her mind. 

The situation was also uncharacteristically quiet as well. She had expected Kaden to either start tapping away on his digi-pad or strike up a monologue about something technological, but instead the young Lombax just sat there with eyes half-closed as he looked out across the skies. 

_ ‘He looks tired,’ _ Sorana thought and she figured that it must be due to whatever he'd been doing this morning. She wanted to say something to fill the silence and this was such a big moment in their lives that she could barely sit still, let alone sleep.

_ 'Well, if he’s tired then that’s his fault,' _ she told herself before finally breaking the silence, "This is kind of a small room isn't it?" she commented experimentally.

Kaden seemed to slowly rouse himself from his half-conscious state before yawning deeply, "Well that kind of makes sense," he began as Sorana took another sip from her drink. "This is a 'honeymoon room' after all."

Sorana choked on the mouthful of green liquid in her throat and fought to prevent any of it from escaping her mouth. Kaden didn't seem to notice her choking fit as he scratched the back of his head absentmindedly and yawned again.

Sorana was sure she must have misheard him, "W-what was that?" she croaked, a little liquid still stuck in her airways.

Kaden glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow, "A honeymoon," he repeated. "You know, like when two people get married and then they-"

"I know what a honeymoon is, Kaden," Sorana interrupted abrasively. "I'm asking what you meant by saying that this was a 'honeymoon room'?"

"Oh, that," Kaden said as he realized what she meant. "Well, when I found the information about the Quasar Express there was a little engineering note in the design schematics. Even though these kinds of rooms are officially labeled as observation compartments, some engineer had apparently nicknamed them 'honeymoon rooms’.”

"Why would you want to sit in here if you knew that?!" Sorana questioned with surprising intensity.

Kaden was taken aback by her aggressive manner and eyed her curiously, "Why?" he repeated in confusion. "Because I thought you'd like the view from here."

Sorana eyed him oddly, "And that's the only reason?" she pressed.

Kaden pursed his lips and looked away for a second, "Actually, there was another reason," he admitted slightly ashamedly. “I had an ulterior motive besides the view when I picked this compartment.”

Sorana knew she’d been digging, but was totally surprised to find anything. She gulped involuntarily before asking further, “And what motive would that be?”

Kaden knew that he couldn’t hide the truth anymore, that effort had caused nothing but trouble so far.

Kaden took a deep breath and sighed in defeat, before turning to look Sorana in the eyes, "The truth is…” he began hesitantly, “The truth is that… this is one of the few compartments on the train that has a fully stocked drink bar," he explained guiltily, before holding up his almost empty bottle of green liquid. "You can't even get this stuff in Valmecha! I read that it's some kind of special drink made only in Nova Academy and I had to try it." And he downed the last of his bottle with on greedy chug.

Sorana felt herself deflate before turning away and letting out a long sigh, "I hate how you do that," she muttered under her breath.

“Hm? What was that?" Kaden asked as he put down the now empty bottle.

"It was nothing," Sorana answered dismissively, upset with herself more than anything.

Kaden studied Sorana's somber appearance for a short while, but eventually shrugged it off as she had said it was nothing. Simultaneously, Sorana decided not to let Kaden's usual lack of tact ruin her experience.

Shaking any mildly distracting thoughts away from her mind, Sorana reset herself and began pointing out various landmarks and geographical features that she recognized to Kaden as the train blazed its way through the sky. Sorana had always held a deep love for all things natural and serene. It was actually a preference that clashed with Kaden's obsession for everything artificial and Lombax-made. However, he showed no signs of irritation when she went into lengthy details about the wildlife or history of the areas they passed over.

That was until they crossed a featureless desert. Once again there was silence as Sorana had nothing else to talk about, so she took a breather and waited for something interesting to show up again.

As the two sat in silence for a few minutes, Sorana felt a weight on her shoulder, "What is it?" she asked, thinking it was Kaden trying to get her attention.

Kaden didn't answer, though, and the weight didn't go away. So she turned at last to see what he wanted only to find that he had completely fallen asleep and was now dozing soundly, with his shoulder rubbing against hers. She shook her head reproachfully at her friend. She was now sure that he had exhausted himself during his earlier rampage and could see that it had finally caught up with him, in force.

Sorana tried to push Kaden back up so that he wouldn't be leaning at such an odd angle, but he was much more difficult to move than she'd thought, "Come on, Kaden," she commanded as she strained against his dead weight. Despite Sorana's pushing and words, Kaden showed no signs of waking. He was out cold now and the only way she was going to move him was by force. 

Try as she might, however, he was very uncooperative to handle. Every time she did actually manage to get him back up straight, he would just fall over the other way and sprawl himself over drink bar. She would then try to pull him back toward her again, but then he'd just fall back over to her side.

Sorana was beginning to contemplate leaving him draped across the bar as she pulled him back away from it for the second time, but then she lost her grip on his collar and he fell across her lap. She stayed still for an awkward few seconds before looking around the room as if she expected someone to be watching.

She eyed the peacefully sleeping Lombax suspiciously, "You'd better not be doing this on purpose," she warned, but there was no response to her words.

At this point she considered her options. She knew that any attempt to sit him upright again would probably fail, not to mention be much more difficult now from his current position. She could also just push him off of her and onto the floor. If the impact woke him than he could just sit himself back up, but if he didn't then he'd at least be out of the way.

As she debated the choice in her head, she watched as Kaden breathed in softly before exhaling back out. The sight stirred something within Sorana and began to give her a strange feeling. This was actually the first time she'd seen Kaden asleep when no one else was around. The difference between the usual, chaotic, 'something is going to blow up any second' feeling that she typically got while around him and the unbelievably peaceful atmosphere that surrounded him now was almost unsettling. 

At that moment, it was hard for her to believe that the Lombax on her lap was the cause of frequent havoc and mayhem across a massive, advanced Lombax city. He was like a child sleeping, which made Sorana wonder if it might have been some kind of maternal instinct that made her finally decide that he could stay where he was for the time being.

"The things I let you get away with," she said with a shake of her head. Resigning herself to her fate as a pillow, Sorana leaned back in her seat and tried to get as comfortable as possible before returning to enjoying the magnificent view.

It wasn't long however, before her attention returned to the sleeping Lombax on her lap. It started out simple at first. She gave Kaden's face a few experimental pokes here and there to make sure he was really still asleep. She also took a picture of him on her PDA for reference and possible blackmail later. Next she started to get a bit more adventurous. 

Playing with his ears and molding forced expressions onto his face turned out to be much more fun than she'd ever have thought possible, or would ever admit in the future. Then she began to wonder if an unconscious Kaden was a better listener than the conscious one was.

Sorana leaned in close to Kaden's ears, "You will follow all of Nova Academy's rules," she ordered in a hypnotic tone that was also tinged with a hint of laughter. "Junk food tastes baaaaad, vegetables taste gooooooood." Kaden's ears began to twitch as she spoke and his lips began to move as if he was trying to mumble something. Sorana's face lit up at the thought that she might actually be getting through Kaden's thick skull for once. "You will also listen to whatever Sorana tells you, from now on," she added with a huge playful grin on her face.

"Sorana…" breathed Kaden quietly.

Sorana froze at the sound of her own name. It did not seem to her like Kaden had regained consciousness, meaning that he was talking in his sleep. This made the young, white-furred Lombax curious as to what her friend’s subconscious mind was thinking about.

Again she leaned in close to his ear, "What about Sorana?" she whispered carefully before leaning her own ears over to his lips.

Kaden's eyes rolled around under his eyelids and slowly he began to speak, "Sor… ana," he repeated quietly as Sorana hovered over him, "she’s…" he continued, but trailed off again.

"What about Sorana?!" she asked again determinedly.

Sorana's face was practically touching Kaden's now as she listened carefully for anything else he might say. In all the years she had known him, she had been sure that not even his own parents ever really understood what went through his mind. Everything he said, everything he did always seemed to be part of some grand plan and he always made it seem like even his mistakes had been done on purpose. 

It was, therefore, very hard to get a gauge on his real personality as there was no way to know for sure if his actions were a result of his true feelings, or if he'd only done them to make it seem like they were. Now, however, she was possibly mere seconds away to hearing a thought that was completely uncensored by his conscious mind and it was something about her, apparently.

"Sorana…" Kaden said again, much clearer this time.

_ 'What was he going to say?' _ Sorana wondered excitedly. She wanted to know so badly that her heart rate was increasing. She didn't know what she expected to hear. She didn't even have a clue what she could expect to hear.  _ 'What did she want to hear?' _

"is…" continued Kaden in a whisper so quiet that the sound of Sorana's heart beating in her ears almost drowned it out. Sorana strained desperately to listen.

Just as the next word was on the tip of Kaden's lips, the room began to shake once more and Kaden's voice was drowned out in the sound of electrical gears and hydraulic systems coming online. The walls reappeared with a rapid change in lighting and the seats began to rotate back to their original positions. 

The sudden movement of the room and her seat caught Sorana by surprise as she was perched precariously over Kaden’s lips. She almost fell forward on top of him, but was able to throw her hand out across the seat to stop herself. 

Unfortunately... her hand managed to find Kaden's tail lying on the seat behind him and she was unable to stop herself from putting her weight on it.

Kaden's eyes snapped open in shock and he bolted upright reflexively.

Before Sorana could even blink, Kaden’s face was suddenly inches from hers. It happened in an instant. So fast that she had no time to react and her heart barely had to time to skip a beat. Then time seemed to slow down. First, their noses touched and then… their skulls collided. 

The hollow clack of bone striking bone echoed through the small compartment space, but it was nothing compared to the ringing of bells that rocked the two Lombaxes' brains.

"Aaaaahhhh!!!" bellowed Kaden as he rolled away onto the compartment floor and thrashed about with his hands clutching his forehead. "What happened?"

Sorana clamped her eyes shut and pressed her palm tightly to her now pounding cranium. Her head was spinning from the impact and she had barely been able to hear Kaden's words, "You woke up and slammed your face into mine," she explained through gritted teeth before lying down woozily across the still moving couch.

"Oh wow, what is your head made out of, Raritanium?" Kaden asked rhetorically in both amazement and agony.

Sorana's head was hurting too much for her to retort, so she just ignored the jab and let the throbbing slowly ease itself away. In the meantime, the seats were returned to their original spots and the compartment fully retracted into the train. 

Kaden eventually managed to pull himself up onto the newly visible couch opposite Sorana and the two now eyed each other weakly through painfully squinted gazes.

"Why did the compartment go back to normal?" Sorana asked after her head had cleared a little.

Kaden scrunched his face against the nausea he felt so that he could think, "It has an auto-retract sequence for when the train is coming up to a docking station," he explained groggily. "We're probably on approach to the next stop."

Sorana sat up with her hand still on her head and took a peek out of the window. The bright light from outside was hard to look at, but she did manage to see that they were very far off of the ground.

"Then why aren't we getting any lower?" she asked after confirming that the train wasn't decreasing its altitude.

Kaden blinked hard several times as his eyes adjusted to the light, "That's because we're not headed for anything on the ground," he explained. "Geta Ciel should be around here at this time of day, so we're probably headed there."

Sorana leaned back and nodded her understanding, but immediately regretted the slight cranial movement. 

Geta Ciel was a flying city with one half of it hanging down in Fastoon's upper atmosphere and the other half linked to a massive starport anchored in the planet's high orbit. The city acted as both a large shipyard where some of Fastoon's greatest, capital-class ships had been built and as a starport for starships that were far too large to enter the atmosphere. 

It didn't have a permanent location on the planet, though. Retaining a stable orbit in space meant that it had to move at a very rapid pace. It was typically able to circle the planet nearly three times in a day. This allowed the city to function as a mobile port city, able to deliver its material all over the planet with great efficiency by simply waiting until it was above its materials’ destination.

Sure enough, just as Kaden had said, the hulking form of a flying metal metropolis loomed out into view ahead of the train a short while later. About a minute or so after that, the entire train had flown into one of the city's skytrain docks, similar to the ones in Valmecha. The only thing that could be seen from the window now was the heavy metal walls of the city. 

Due to the thin air of the upper atmosphere, the inhabited parts of Geta Ciel were sealed in an airtight environment. The Quasar Express was too large to be sealed in completely, so only the front was docked and pressurized by large rubber seals that closed around it like giant lips wrapping around the front sections of the train to allow passengers to board.

Suddenly Kaden's face changed from painful grimace to a focused one. Then his eyes looked up to the ceiling, but not at anything specific. Sorana recognized the telltale signs of someone using an integrated NID function and knew that Kaden must be doing something with his neural computer, but would have to wait for him to tell her about it if he decided to.

Kaden blinked hard to close out of whatever he was doing and then turned to face Sorana with a grin, "I just got a message from Alister," he explained. "He says that he arrived in Geta Ciel a few hours ago and is boarding the Quasar Express right now. I gave him our compartment number, so he should be here any minute."

"Oh," was Sorana's only response to Kaden's news. She had known beforehand that Alister would be joining them at Nova Academy this year, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon and was somewhat disappointed that her and Kaden's time alone together was over already. Especially considering how little of it Kaden had actually been fully awake for.

Kaden raised an eyebrow at Sorana's odd response, "Is that a problem?" he asked.

Sorana smiled disarmingly, "No, it isn't that," she assured him. "It's just that my head's still spinning from the trauma it's suffered," she explained, turning his focus back on how he'd just head-butted her.

Kaden folded his arms and stared back indignantly, "It wasn't my fault, at least not completely. I must have rolled over on my tail or something. You can't even begin to understand how much that can hurt." Sorana tried to hide any sign of guilt from her face. "Come to think about it," Kaden continued as he recalled his first moments of consciousness, "why was your face so close to mine, anyway?"

Sorana's facial muscles stiffened in a well-practiced method used to prevent her from showing any hints of what she was actually thinking. She really didn't have a decent excuse for why she'd been in such an embarrassing position and she definitely wasn't about to tell Kaden the truth about how she'd coddled his head in her lap while trying brainwash and interrogate his subconscious.

She swallowed to clear her throat as the short silence began to stretch and Kaden's eyes began to grow suspicious, "Well… that was… I was trying to-" she began, but she was saved from further scrutiny when the door to their compartment slid open.

"Greetings, fellow Photons!" yelled the white furred, red striped Lombax standing in the doorway, referring to them both as Nova Academy's official mascot: a photon.

Kaden and Sorana both stood up as he walked in, "Hello, Alister," said Sorana with a formal tone and a well mannered bow of greeting.

Alister returned the greeting with his own slight bow of the head, “Hello, Sorana, good to see you again.” Alister then turned to Kaden, "What did you do?" he asked before Kaden even had the chance to greet him as well.

"What?" was all Kaden could say, not sure of what he was being accused of so suddenly (though sure the accusation was just). Alister simply pointed to the displaced touch panel that was still hanging out of the wall. Kaden saw what he was pointing to, "Oh, that," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll show you later."

Alister shook his head, "Same old Kaden. Although I guess I would have been surprised to find the Quasar Express still in one piece with you onboard."

Kaden smiled, "Thank you," he said, wrongfully taking Alister's words as a compliment.

Alister smiled back, "Anyway, what were you saying in your message about some special juice? It was a long flight from Kreeli and I could use a good drink."

Kaden nodded eagerly and went to retrieve the green drink from the bar as Alister took a seat on the larger couch. Kaden found another bottle of the strange neon liquid and tossed it to Alister before walking over to join him. The train started moving moments later and the three of them chatted happily as it did so until they were far enough away from Geta Ciel to reactivate the observation mode.

Kaden immediately set to work reinitiating the compartment setting, but Sorana objected, "Won't that make things a little awkward with three of us?" she asked, concerned that at least one of them would have to sit out in space on an invisible couch.

Kaden shook his head, "Oh, no. I can adjust all of that from here," he dismissed.

Just like before, the room began to rumble and the compartment began to extend out and away from the train, except this time the seats didn't move. Sorana then realized that it had been Kaden's decision to effectively remove the larger couch earlier and she immediately squashed the tiny thought that he might have had an ulterior motive in doing so before it took root.

Just like before, the compartment stopped vibrating once it was fully extended and then there was an eerie silence. 

“And what was the point of that?” Alister asked, seeming more interested in his beverage than the compartment.

As if in reply, the walls, floor, and ceiling all disappeared. The older Lombax yelped in surprise at suddenly finding the floor beneath him replaced by a several mile deep, dead-drop and leapt up onto his seat, while gripping the couch cushion in a twin death hold.

He continued to stare in horror at the massive height for several seconds until he slowly began to realize he wasn't going to fall and started to look around in confusion. When he found that the outer wall had vanished along with the floor,comprehension began to dawn on his features. Then he spotted Kaden sitting next to him with a huge, self-satisfied grin on his face.

Alister's expression darkened and in a flash of movement he had put Kaden in a headlock, "You're supposed to tell people before you make the ground disappear," he growled into his friend's ear, but he said it with a large grin on his face as well.

"Ha!" shouted Sorana with a jab of her finger, feeling validated at having her own words and reaction used by another.

The two male Lombaxes froze where they were and both of them looked up at Sorana with a questioning expression. Sorana pulled her arm back and straightened herself before clearing her throat and returning to her formal sitting posture. Alister shrugged and brushed of the outburst before turning back to the task at hand and tightening his grip on Kaden’s head.

Sorana had only met Alister one other time before now, when he had come to visit Kaden in Valmecha. Up until that point, Sorana had thought Kaden's story of actually making a new friend had been a fictional one. Alister had been seventeen at the time, which had made him about a year older than Sorana.

Kaden had met Alister Azimuth just over a year ago. At the time Kaden's father had been contracted as an engineer for Azimuth Trillium Mining Industries. Kaden had accompanied his father on several trips to Kreeli Comet, an extremely rich source of Trillium ore, where he learned about and sometimes helped in his father's task of designing mining rigs and other equipment used for ore harvesting. 

Alister had also been on Kreeli during one of these visits, similarly in order to learn from the company's CEO, his father, about various aspects of the family business.

Kaden and Alister had bumped into each other while exploring the comet’s surface. They became friends following a hover-boot race that ended in a tie. After which they swapped NID link numbers, though, mostly out of a desire for a rematch. 

Now the three of them were heading for a new life together at Nova Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geta Ciel - is a starport city. It's name comes from the word ‘ciel’, which is french for ‘sky’ or ‘heaven’ and the word ‘geta’ which is Indonesian for throne. Geta Ciel is the ‘Throne of the Sky’.


	7. Seeing Red

"I can't wait to see the mountain itself and the area surrounding it," answered Sorana. "Mount Supernova is such a unique land formation. It just kind of juts up from the ground, reaches high into the clouds, and leaves the majority of the surrounding area unaffected. It's supposed to have smaller foothills on one side of it, but the land around its base is mostly covered with forests and valleys. There are also several waterfalls and lakes spread throughout. It's like having all of Fastoon’s most serene natural landscapes in one location!"

Kaden and Alister both wore expressions of boredom and disappointment as Sorana finished. Alister began to shake his head from side to side, "That is such a typical Art Fielder answer,” he commented dryly. “The three of us are on our way to the single most renowned Lombax institution of learning in the entire galaxy and your answer is, 'I want to see the flowers and the trees!'" he mimicked with a flutter of his eyes.

Sorana's expression soured, "And ‘that’, is such a typical, meathead, Military Field response," she shot back. "Not everything has to be about bombs and testosterone, you know. I'm sure everyone else attending the academy can at least appreciate the beauty and grace that nature offers."

"Uhmm…" Kaden began cautiously, signaling his inclusion into the argument. "I'm actually with Alister on this one, Sor. I just don't see the point of 'natural' things when I can make something even better and more cost effective in a lab."

"And of course, that would be the overly critical Science Fielder's opinion," Sorana said, with an unsurprised sigh. "I know I've told you this several times Kaden, but it's not always about the 'efficiency' of something, it's about the feeling."

At the mention of the word 'feeling' both Kaden and Alister simultaneously made fake gagging motions and noises.

Sorana groaned in irritation, "Fine then, what are you two looking forward to most about Nova Academy?" she demanded.

Both Kaden and Alister's faces rapidly shifted from miming a heave to showing sudden interest. Their ears perked up and the two friends turned to each other. Upon sharing a look of mutual understanding, they turned back to Sorana with matching grins and smug looks.

"That answer seems kind of obvious, don't you think?" asked Alister rhetorically and in a condescending tone.

Kaden nodded, "Yes. After all, there really is only one thing that's truly worth looking forward to at Nova Academy," he added with an equally condescending tone.

"Tsk, tsk, Sorana," chided Alister with a disappointed look in his eyes. "You should know that there is only one thing with the kind of attention grabbing force that could be considered Nova Academy's number one attraction."

Sorana rolled her eyes. Dealing with these two was bad enough on its own, but now that they had managed to synchronize their idiocy, it was much worse. "Just tell me already," she pleaded, fearing that Kalister would be more irritating than the sum of his parts.

The two male Lombaxes grinned at each other and took a deep breath before giving their answer in perfect unison, "Nova Academy… Intercollegiate… Hoverball championship, MMXIV!" they bellowed gleefully.

_ 'Of course it was hoverball,' _ thought Sorana as she pinched the bridge of her nose to fight off the early signs of a painful headache. Her third one today that, she realized, Kaden was at least partially responsible for. "Strapping jets to your feet and pummeling each other just to try and move around a ball? I can understand your obsession with the sport, Alister. The violence and adrenaline seems right up your alley, but I don't understand how you could share it, Kaden. I always thought something like fawning over sporting events was 'unproductive' and therefore 'illogical' to you?"

Alister shrugged indifferently, "Maybe it's just a guy thing. You probably need a tail to understand," he offered with a sympathetic look. One Sorana didn't appreciate.

"Actually," interjected Kaden, "I'm really just interested in the gear and equipment that each team uses. In fact, I've already started prototyping a new set of hoverboots for when Alister and I join a team next semester," he explained with a clear sense of eagerness.

Alister nodded his approval, "Yes, and with Kaden's superior equipment combined with my superior skills and good looks, we'll be sure to be considered for the interplanetary team," he declared confidently.

"Which team do you think we should join?" asked Kaden. "I like the looks of The Esophlatons. They did pretty well last season, but they're still probably looking for new recruits."

"No way," rejected Alister flatly. "First of all, that's a Science Field team and everybody knows that, if you want to win it all, you need to join a Military Field team. Secondly, and more importantly, The Esophlatons is a stupid name."

"It is not a stupid name!" retorted Kaden. "You just don't know what Esophlaton is. It’s like a really big…

* * *

Sorana sighed sadly to herself; it was going to be a long trip.

The Quasar Express was flying low over a large body of water when the ambient light around it gradually began to dim. This wasn't the first time today that the Quasar Express had visited a part of Fastoon that was experiencing the night time of its solar cycle, but this time the change in lighting had caught the group's attention because there was something odd about the darkness. 

Here, the sun wasn't just missing, the light itself seemed as if it was being sucked unnaturally from the air. Soon, the last of the dying solar rays vanished in wisps as the sky train became engulfed in a thick cloud of ocean fog.

"Where on Fastoon are we now?" Alister demanded, squinting into the opaque mist which filled the massive window that was their whole compartment.

"Well, we're obviously near The Blue Void," answered Sorana, as if it should have been obvious.

"Oh, of course. How foolish of me," Alister replied sarcastically. Behind the sarcasm though, Kaden could detect just the tiniest hint of concern in his voice. The only time Alister had ever heard of The Blue Void had been from old Holo-films that usually featured some giant primordial monster. "And uh, why would we be near The Blue Void?" he then asked with a tone of forced disinterest.

The Blue Void was actually an area of the Northern Ocean. It surrounded the North Pole of Fastoon and its borders were marked by intense, multi-spectral interference radiation. This Radiation was a byproduct of Fastoon's intense magnetosphere, which was emitted from its North and South Poles. This radiation was famous for its ability to render almost all unshielded electronics incapable of functioning. For this very reason, few people were able to venture into it and that gave the area its mysterious nature, from which the various myths had formed.

"We're probably just passing through the edge of The Void," said Sorana dismissively. She knew all about the hazards that The Blue Void posed and she was sure that the train would avoid any dangerous areas.

However, no sooner had she finished the thought, than their entire compartment began to shake. It wasn't exactly unusual for a gigantic flying train that was moving faster than the speed of sound to vibrate a little. What was strange about it, was that they could feel it. 

The entire train was equipped with momentum dampeners that removed even the slightest feeling of inertial change from its passengers. The only explanation for the three of them to be feeling movement now was that the dampener system must have been malfunctioning. A second later the walls rematerialized with a heartstopping flash of opaque material and their compartment retracted immediately after.

"That's weird," wondered Kaden aloud, "the safety retraction engaged." This comment was not something Alister was happy to hear.

"Are you alright, Alister?" asked Sorana curiously, having noticed him take a firm grip on his seat.

Alister looked up at her with a somewhat surprised expression, "What? No, I'm fine," he insisted. Sorana could tell that he was worried about their situation. She quickly opened her mouth to change the subject... but had forgotten that Kaden was with them.

"What's the matter, Alister?" grinned the tan Lombax mockingly as he sensed his friend's moment of weakness, "Afraid of a little turbulence?"

Alister turned to Kaden with a humorless glare "Oh no, I don't care about a little shaking really. It's the signs of system failure and the promise of a violent, watery crash that make me worry!"

"Psh, we're probably just getting a little close to the Pole," said Kaden with disregard. "I'm sure we'll pass by it in a moment."

Alister shook his head in disbelief, "We wouldn't be the first stratocraft that didn't make it out of the Blue Void and I'm sure a lot of those people thought everything was going to be fine too," he pointed out ominously.

Kaden rolled his eyes, "That's just a myth from old times. Nobody's dumb enough to fly into the Void without special shielding. Besides, I know for a fact that the Quasar Express does have advanced electronics shielding. I'll bet this train could pass right over the North Pole if it wanted to. We might lose precise systems, like the momentum dampeners, but we won't fall out of the sky."

Sorana chose not to comment on the conversation. It was, in fact, true that still to this day at least one privately registered craft goes missing into the Blue Void every year. There always seems to be someone foolish enough to try. She wasn't about to tell that to Alister, though, as it seemed like the only part of Kaden's argument he'd heard were the last five words.

Again she tried to change the subject, "Alister, Kaden, you two were talking about joining a hoverball team together? How can you do that if you're in different fields?" she asked desperately.

Sorana wasn't eager to bring the subject of conversation back to hoverball after she'd worked so hard to kill it earlier, but drastic times and everything.

Alister's expression changed as if he were suddenly realizing something, "Oh, yes. The academy Science and Military Fields each have their own teams, but there are certain loopholes in the rules that lets one member of the team be from the other field. Kaden was able to find it in the regulations."

At the mention of his name Kaden looked up with a smile as his ego was stoked by the compliment. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, the lights in the compartment blinked out of existence, leaving the entire train in a void of darkness. 

Green, dim emergency lights flooded the room seconds later. Bathed in an eerie green glow, the friends sat frozen. In the icy silence that followed, they could clearly hear the sound of the train's repulsor jets fighting to keep it airborne.

"Stay in your compartments and keep calm!" screeched a harsh and static ridden voice over the train's intercom system. Kaden recognized it immediately as the same one that came from the Dean's hologram earlier. "If you're frightened by a little turbulence just wait until you receive some disciplinary correction. Anyone who is caught outside their compartment before I grant permission again will be the first to learn this." The tone then cut out and the three Lombaxes were left in dimly lit silence once more.

_ 'This Dean,' _ Kaden thought,  _ 'will definitely be a problem for me.' _ He then turned to his friends and could clearly see that even Sorana was worried now. He managed to keep his calm easily as something like fear was illogical to him, so he repressed it. Instead he focused on observing Sorana who was now staring at the dark clouds that clung to their window. She seemed transfixed by them.

"You know," Kaden began comfortingly, a gesture he was quite unfamiliar with, "if it makes you feel any better we can sit closer together. It might be safer that way." Kaden knew it wouldn't be any help at all, but if he could get Sorana to believe that then she could at least calm down.

"Good idea!" came a reply along with the feeling of bodily contact from his other side. Kaden turned around slowly to find a barely held together Alister Azimuth almost conjoined to him on the couch. "Sticking together is a basic principle of survival," the cowardly Lombax added.

Kaden blinked a few times in bemusement, "You can't be serious?" he asked of his frightened senior. "What happened to 'fear nothing'?" he questioned.

Alister shook his head, "No, it's 'fear no one'," he corrected unashamedly. "I can fight people and I can fight monsters, but I can't fight the planet!"

While Kaden mentally debated whether or not to forcefully remove the cowardly Lombax from his side, Sorana suddenly spoke up.

"Look at this!" she said abruptly. 

Kaden was curious as to what could possibly have caught Sorana's interest at a time like this and stood up to find out. As he did, the unraveling Alister stood up with him and, still conjoined, the two of them padded their way toward the window.

On the other side of the glass, the endlessly churning ocean that was The Blue Void stretched out as far as he could see. Massive glaciers and icebergs dotted the canvas of black seawater and as the train continued to blaze its way through the air, the mountains of ice gradually increased in size until the ocean suddenly disappeared and the train was instead just flying over a solid floor of ice. Soon the whole of their miniscule view was filled with an endless wasteland of white snow and tundra.

This lasted only a short while, however. The pure white snow that had been landing on the window pane before melting and running off started to turn dark and began leaving long, black streaks across the glass. The ice of the tundra below also gradually darkened until it was pitch black.

"It's Magnaron!" Sorana exclaimed breathlessly. 

Kaden almost jumped in surprise at her sudden outburst and was forced to take a closer look at his friend. He now realized that she wasn't actually afraid at all, she was excited. He could understand why, too. It was a very rare opportunity to see the island of Magnaron and someone like Sorana, with her love of natural wonders, would be overjoyed at the prospect, despite the situation.

Magnaron Island was actually one of the most active volcanoes in the sector, excluding the ones on the nearby planet of Rykan V. Over the centuries, the volcano's constant stream of molten rock had formed an expansive land mass close to the center of The Blue Void, the planet's North Pole. 

There wasn't much information about the island readily available on the holonet, but Kaden had always found it ironic that the hottest natural inferno on the surface of Fastoon was also located in its coldest temperate zone.

A deep, orange glow, which crested the horizon ahead, caught the group's attention. Judging from the relative movement of the Tundra and the distant light, Kaden could see that they had been slowing down rapidly and it was clear that the Quasar Express would be stopping soon. 

If the train was stopping due to engine trouble, it would likely have been obvious to everyone aboard, so Kaden had to assume the stop was planned, but he wondered as to what possible reason it could have had for doing so.

Outside the train, blackened snow gave way to barren rock, but moments later their view was completely engulfed in fog as the train passed through a colossal wall of turbulent steam. The swirling barrier of vaporized water had clearly been formed from the titanic battle between the frozen wasteland of ice and fiery volcanic inferno that was likely just beyond its veil.

Their view wasn't blocked for long. As the misty curtain pulled back from the window, it revealed a nightmarish landscape of jutting igneous rock. Towers of stone reached high into the air, some of which even came close to scraping the train. Everything was tinged in the bloody orange glow of the molten rivers of lava that flowed like veins across the landscape and pooled in massive pits.

However, some of the taller rock towers looked oddly shaped, almost unnaturally so. The three Lombaxes could all feel that something was off about them, but couldn't quite figure it out.

"They're artificial constructs," Kaden said aloud as the realization hit him.

"Artificial?" Alister repeated, trading some of his concern for curiosity. "You mean Lombax made? Why would anyone build stuff out here?"

"I don't know… mining or research perhaps?" Kaden offered in reply. As he spoke the train slowed down to a halt at last, but the momentum dampeners must have already reached their limit, because he and Alister almost lost their balance. Kaden had to grip the walls and window so tightly that it almost broke his skin, in order to prevent him and Alister from falling on Sorana.

After regaining their balance, the three of them looked out the window again. It was dark from the smoke and ash that covered the area, but they could just make out the outline of a large platform further up the train. It was being bathed in a shifting, bright glow that emanated from above the train. It took very little effort to realize that it must have been from the welcoming hologram of the Dean.

"That doesn't make any sense." Alister began with a tone of confusion. "If the hologram activated, then that would mean it was giving its welcome message to new students, but there's no way anyone could live out here. Especially not someone young enough to start at Nova… could they?"

They all watched the light reflected on the platform dance for another minute or so before it disappeared and the train began to move again.

As the Quasar Express sped back up to cruising speed, the three friends returned to their seats, each with their own thoughts. 

Sorana was the first to break the silence, "It might be possible…" she began before pausing to contemplate her words a bit more, "Maybe the new students were… Red Lombaxes..."

"Red Lombaxes!?" exclaimed Alister in surprise and disbelief. "You've got to be kidding. Red Lombaxes aren't real." Sorana looked at Alister as if she was about to argue, but her expression faded and she didn't say anything.

Kaden was also confused as to why Sorana would make such a suggestion. Lombaxes came in all different colors naturally and there were also tons of options in the way of fur dye and genetic reconstruction, but what Sorana had meant when she said 'Red Lombaxes' was something specific. She was talking about the mythical Lombax heroes that supposedly lived in the planetary core of Fastoon.

Kaden tried to give Sorana the benefit of the doubt and took a look at their situation as if the stories could possibly be true. It made sense that 'the core of Fastoon' could be related to the heavily volcanic island of Magnaron. 

The island itself was also almost as legendary and mythical as the Red Lombaxes. It also made sense that if there was one place on the planet where something could be hidden from the public, it was Magnaron and its radiation packed atmosphere. The more Kaden thought about it the more it made sense and, at the same time, the less it made sense.

If the Red Lombaxes were real, why was there so little history about them in this day and age? There were other questions that stirred his mind as well. Less mythical ones like: what would someone, red furred or not, be doing on this island and how could they even survive for an extended period of time? This was a rare moment for Kaden where logical thought failed him and he couldn't figure out an answer just by thinking. 

So, he did something without logic, "Let's go find out," he said casually before standing up, grabbing for his bag, and looking to the door.

"I'm not leaving this room," Alister said flatly and without hesitation. It was clear to all which side had won out between his curiosity and his fear. "I'm not dumb enough to leave a compartment, where if a crash occurred the designer would expect people to be in, to go stand in the hallway, where if a crash occurred a designer would not expect people to be in."

Kaden raised an eyebrow. That was the most thought he'd ever seen Alister put into planning his next move. His fear must have really had an effect on him. Kaden tried to goad the cowardly Lombax into leaving by drawing attention to his cowardice, but his white furred friend wouldn't budge. He then turned to Sorana.

"Don't be ridiculous," was her stark reply. "I can't believe after everything you've done today that you're even thinking about disobeying a direct order from the Dean herself. I know you don't think much of rules Kaden, but this is just too much, even for you."

Sorana's words were very true. Kaden thought nothing of the rules. For example, he had already completely forgotten about the announcement ordering the train's passengers to stay in their compartments. This was Kaden's biggest problem with authority. He never really made any special efforts to break rules or go against whoever made them, he just happened to take an interest in things that occasionally had rules against them. Once he had a desire to do something, however, little factors like rules and regulations no longer registered to him.

Kaden quickly dismissed the possibility that he might be in the wrong here and tried to appeal to Sorana's sense of curiosity, "Come on Sor, if there really are Red Lombaxes on the train, you know you want to see for yourself. Besides, the warning to stay in our compartments was clearly just to prevent people from panicking. At least two thirds of us are perfectly calm, so it doesn't really apply to us."

Sorana just shook her head repeatedly. She couldn't believe what was happening. Sure, Kaden was dense on these kinds of matters, but to see him doing it when she was right in front of him, "I'm not going to argue with you, Kaden," she began coldly, tired of trying, and failing, to stop him from making bad choices. "If you want to go out and get yourself expelled from Nova before you even make it to the academy, be my guest. At this point, I won't even miss you."

Kaden clenched his jaw and was surprised to find himself hesitating after he'd made a choice to do something. A few moments later however, he threw his bag over his shoulder and turned his back to his friends, "Fine then… I will," were his final words before he smacked the panel next to the door and walked out into the green glow of the hallway. 

He had doubts about his choice, but he also hated not being able to solve a problem. When he couldn't figure out the answer to a question, he sometimes became single-mindedly obsessed with it until it was solved.

Sorana watched Kaden leave in the reflection of the window.  _ ‘What did she care at this point?’ _ she told herself. It wasn't her job to chaperone Kaden's life. She clenched her fists as she watched her friend leaved determinedly out of the compartment 

When she really thought about it, Sorana realized that Kaden had been fated to screw up his transfer to Nova all along. He almost seemed desperate to make her go on to the academy without him. At the very least, she knew she should take solace in the fact that she wouldn't have to worry about what was likely many of the tan furred menace's future misdeeds. She knew that she would have a long, promising, and peaceful school life ahead of her as she watched the compartment doors begin to close.

"Wait-" she tried to shout at the last second with her arm outstretched to the door, but her words were cut off by the swoosh of the door sealing shut and she was left sitting in silence. Her hand slowly closed back into a fist and she brought it to her chest before looking down at the floor and muttering "Darn it," to herself.

Alister's eyes were wide as they flicked between the now sealed door and Sorana, whom he assumed was trying to melt the metal floor with her intense stare.

The silence was awkward and he couldn't take its suffocation much more, "Kids, huh?" he said, hoping to break the tension by making light of Kaden's frequent childlike behavior and Sorana's tendency to act motherly in response.

Sorana slowly raised her head and eyed Alister for a few seconds. Alister gulped subconsciously as he matched the icy blue gaze, before Sorana broke it and turned to look out the window, "Well, that's a relief," she said calmly as the train passed through the steam veil and began to cross over the black tundra once more.

Alister raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What is?" he asked cautiously, still unsure of how Sorana had taken his comment; Kaden had spoke often of her legendary anger and he desperately hoped he wouldn’t have to learn of it first hand.

Sorana didn't take her eyes away from the window as she spoke, "Well, now that we've left the volcanic heart of the island, we don't have to worry about breaking down and crashing into a molten inferno," she explained.

Alister had admit that was a bit of a relief, but he was more relieved by what seemed like Sorana's attempt to change the subject, "Yeah, I'm glad we don't have to worry about burning in a pool of magma," he replied with a small smile. "I don't think the ladies of Fastoon could handle me losing any fur."

Sorana nodded toward the window, "Yes, now if the train fails, we'd only have to worry about freezing and/or starving to death in an icy, ash coated wasteland or maybe drowning in the dark, swirling waters of the Blue Void."

At the exact moment she had finished her sentence, the Quasar Express hit a particularly rough spot of turbulence, causing the whole compartment to rattle violently. Outside, the sound of the repulsor jets roared ominously with added power to compensate.

"Oh," said Sorana as if she'd suddenly remembered something else, "that is, of course, if we don't simply explode or die on impact." She then turned to face Alister and looked him straight in the eye. Her glare was cold and penetrating as she asked, "If you had to choose, Alister, which way would you rather go?"

* * *

Alister didn't answer Sorana's question.

Kaden looked out into the empty hallway before him and took account of his situation. The train was divided into almost a hundred train cars, most of which contained four to eight seating compartments like the one he'd just left. 

Each car was separated by large doorways that had small windows set into them. He had seen the hologram image and the platform near the front of the train and knew that was where he was likely to find whoever had just boarded from Magnaron.

He began his journey through the train carefully, keeping an eye out for any academy personnel. He would have to check every compartment on his way towards the front of the train to be sure he didn't miss the new passengers. He knew that the chances of any new borders having moved into a compartment this far down the train was practically zero, but he chose to check them anyway just to be thorough.

Through many of the compartments' windows he found new students in equal measures excited and terrified. Some cowered in the corners or hugged each other tightly as the train shook. Others sat up in their seats happily chatting and reacting to the turbulence as if they were on a strato-coaster.

Occasionally a student would notice his silhouette peeking in on them through the green tinged darkness, but he would disappear from the compartment door's window before they could get a clear look at him and, in the extreme case, would hide in an unoccupied room if it looked like they would come out to look for him. 

As one might imagine, this did not help the mental state of anyone unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of his shadow before it vanished without a trace, but Kaden had dismissed those consequences as negligible and he continued his effort.

* * *

It was about halfway between the part of the train where Kaden's compartment had been and the part where the new passengers had boarded when he began to feel himself become excited. Up until this point, the chances of seeing the newcomers were very low, but the chances of his target went up for every compartment he checked. He had already covered half the train, and now, the very next compartment he checked could likely be the very one he was searching for.

Kaden fought to push away his excitement, though. The extra adrenaline that flooded his veins every time he checked a window was both distracting and unnecessary. It was one of his own personal policies to not let his emotions interfere with his work. He was doing something in the name of science right now, and there was no room for weakness.

Carefully he peeked through the window of the next compartment, being very careful not to let his eagerness get the better of him. The moment his mind registered what was inside, however, his breath caught fast in his throat and he dropped from the window with his heart pumping wildly. 

Inside the compartment had been two Lombaxes that had apparently decided that now was a perfect moment to display their deep affections for one another.

Kaden fought hard to rein in his thoughts as well as fight the unfamiliar swirl of emotion that the sight had caused. A long time ago Kaden had written off the notions of love and romance as foolish, pointless, and worse, illogical. For someone like Kaden, who was driven solely by knowledge, facts, and professional satisfaction, things driven by emotion were almost an anathema.

This, however, made Kaden's situation even more frustrating. The simple fact that he was having a physical reaction to something that was completely mentally controlled, despite his judgment that it was unimportant, proved to him, or rather reminded him of, how little control of his own mind he really had.

Kaden shook himself of distracting thoughts and became angry at his own behavior. When his heart finally began to beat at a normal pace again he continued his journey through the train with a clear, determined focus.

* * *

There were now only a few cars left to go until Kaden reached the train's main bridge. Once again he cautiously looked through the window of the door that separated his car from the next and through the glass he could make out the forms of two robot porters standing just on the other side. 

The two were talking to each other, but Kaden couldn't hear it clearly. He opened his backpack and pulled out a small vibration analyzer before pressing the device's sampling apparatus against the door and linked it to his NID. 

After adjusting for the train's interference he finally got a clear signal, "-can say it all you want, but I don't believe it. Nobody ever told me they came in red," said the first porter.

The first sentence had caught Kaden completely off guard. The coincidence seemed too great, but once again he fought back his excitement and focused intently on the rest of the conversation.

"We've seen 'em in all colors," argued the second Porter. "Why, just last month we transported those three fellas that glowed neon green."

"That was because of a gamma radiation explosion at that research facility. No, I ain’t never heard of one with red fur before," retorted the first.

"So? What's it matter if they're red or not? Point is we see Lombaxes of all colors on here," insisted the second.

"Yeah, but this one's different. I measured a thermal drop in my circuits when I tried to take their luggage, and didn't you just tell me your 3rd law protocol was initiated when they brushed past you?" asked the first.

"Oh I'm sure it's just this darn interference radiation," insisted the second. "It's a miracle we're even still functional. Old lady Quasar had to cut power to her lights and the stabilizers just to feed the shield generators. We'll be out of the interference zone soon enough though, so everything should be fine. Besides, they didn't do anything that would constitute a threat."

"I guess that's true," admitted the first porter reluctantly. "But still, there was definitely something off about that one… and the way they just walked into compartment twenty-seven without a word was quite rude."

That was all Kaden needed to hear. Thanks to the porters, he could now assume that there had been only one person to board from the island of Magnaron and that they were likely staying in compartment twenty-seven. There was also the bit of information about the passenger being red, but it wasn't enough for Kaden to believe that an actual Red Lombax had boarded the train. Now he just had to get there undetected.

As he stowed his vibration analyzer back into his bag, he removed a portable fission power cell. He quickly and carefully removed the cell's electromagnetic shielding plates and set the output of the device to its lowest level. 

He then used some stick-gel to adhere the small, rectangular device to the door in a way that the activation button was being held down by the adjacent wall. After double-checking that the nearest compartment was empty he knocked on the car door and quickly slid into the unoccupied room.

A moment later the car door slid open as the two Porters tried to find the source of the knocking. With the activation button released, the fission cell's charge sequence initiated and a micro-nuclear reaction took place in the cell's core. In a nanosecond the reaction completed and the cell was charged, but without its EM shielding, a pulse of electromagnetic energy erupted from the device, immobilizing the two robots.

Kaden immediately ran from his compartment, grabbed his fission cell, and crawled between the first porter's legs before heading for the next car door as quickly as possible. 

Just as he made it to the opposite end of the car, the two porters came back online. Luckily for the young Lombax, they began to argue about hearing things and faulty audio registers, so they didn't notice the door closing behind them.

Kaden had of course known that the EMP from his fission cell on its lowest setting could only disable positronic brains of the porters' level for a few seconds, but any higher setting would risk doing permanent damage to their systems. Still, he felt satisfaction in another well executed plan and continued to make his way down the train.

* * *

Kaden entered the next car and checked the compartment number of the first door he came to. It read '29'. Excitement rushed through him and he could feel his heartbeat begin to rise again. He still wasn't happy about the involuntary bodily reaction, but he was too focused on the task at hand to care.

Carefully he made his way up to compartment twenty-seven and peeked inside. The room was completely dark and even the emergency lights were off.

The young Lombax squinted hard into the darkness, trying to discern anything, but the only thing that seemed clear to him was that no one was in compartment twenty-seven. If there was, they were sitting in the pitch darkness for no apparent reason. He wondered if the porters had been mistaken, or if he'd simply misheard them.

Then the whooshing sound of of a door sliding open hit his ears, interrupting his thoughts and yanking his attention away from the compartment window. Following the sound back toward the direction he'd just come, he spotted the two porter-bots that he had EMP flashed, walking towards him. Luckily, for the second time, they faced only each other while still arguing.

Kaden quickly activated the compartment's door and slid inside, closing it just before the bots passed. With this compartment door being much thinner than the car doors, he could easily hear the robots' conversation without a listening device,

"I don't think we need to do this now, the next stop is the academy. Let's just get a tune-up after," said the second porter.

"No," refused the first porter sternly. "I'm getting this looked at before we start unloading all the passengers' luggage. First your safety protocol goes off on its own and then we both hear some random noise? I'm telling ya something's wrong."

"And I told ‘you’ that it was probably just the radiation. You can feel it now, right? We're out of the interference zone, so let's just go back to our posts."

"Oh yeah?" questioned the first. "Then what about my internal chronometer, it's 3.897 seconds slow now."

"Ugh, I've already told you that your chronometer says the same thing mine does. There's nothing wrong with it," countered the second.

"Well, my pocket watch says it's 3.897 seconds slow," insisted the first.

"Pocket Watch? You mean that old relic that you have to ‘wind’? You're seriously going to trust that old piece of junk over our digital chronometers? There's probably more loose gears in that thing than your head," jabbed the second.

as the two porters passed by him without noticing anything, Kaden gave a sigh of relief. Then he almost sucked it back in as he suddenly heard a metallic scraping noise from the darkness behind him.

Slowly, he turned around and stared hard into the shadows, but could still see nothing, "Is anyone there?" he tried calling out, but he received no response. 

Slowly, he reached into his bag and searched for his illuminator. He finally wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it out facing the dark compartment's interior and hit the activation icon. The light erupted from the illuminator, spraying the whole room and revealing everything in an instant. Kaden's eyes quickly adjusted to the light and he gasped as he saw… nothing. The room was completely empty. 

Kaden looked around as he scratched his head in confusion. He was sure that he'd heard something in here.

_ 'Had it been from outside?' _ he wondered as he walked up to the compartment's outward window. The electro shades were down so he raised them and looked outside. 

From what he saw, the Quasar Express had left the island of Magnaron and was now back over open water. A small gleam of light was even starting to break through the ocean fog. However, he found nothing that could be identified as the source of the noise he'd heard. In the end he was forced to assume that the sound must have been something like ice or hail hitting the window.

Kaden left the compartment after that and stood in the hallway with his hand on his chin in thought. He was sure he'd heard the porters correctly. They had definitely been referring to the compartment he was standing in front of now. Either the porter had been mistaken, or he was, but either way Kaden had not found his answer and that was equivalent to being wrong.

_ 'Oh well,' _ he thought with a shake of his head. It was possible that the compartment's occupant had simply moved to another one after the porter's had left. Now he'd just have to continue searching the few rooms left like he had done up until now.

With a sudden, blinding flash of illumination, the main interior lights of the train came back on, replacing the dim green glow with bright white clarity. Obviously that meant that the train's engineers were able to fix the power issue. 

This was good news. With any luck, the ban on leaving his compartment would be lifted and he could walk leisurely back through the train without arousing suspicion. Before continuing his quest, Kaden took one last glance back through the opened doorway of the compartment and nearly jumped across the aisle at what he saw.

Standing in the center of the room he had just vacated was a Lombax wearing a suit of red G-83 medium-level combat armor. On its left chest plate was emblazoned a grinning Lombax silhouette that had sharpened teeth and crossed OmniWrenches below it. 

The Lombax also wore a large rebreathing mask that covered the bottom half of their face and their eyes were hidden behind red-tinted miner's goggles. The only exposed part of their their body was the fur on their scalp and ears. 

It was enough for Kaden to see their color, though. A deep crimson, run through with sharp, black stripes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Esophlaton - Ironically I lost the notes I kept on the origins of Esophlaton as a hoverball team name, so, like Alister, even I don’t know what it means.


	8. Nova Academy

_ Long ago, in the dark past of the Polaris Galaxy, there once existed an evil race known as the Cragmites. These vile, insectoid creatures would decimate entire planets, stripping them of their resources and caring nothing for their inhabitants. In their desire for destruction and conquest, they formed a galaxy spanning empire and destroyed any who opposed them. _

_ After witnessing the dreadful carnage that the Cragmites were capable of, the Lombax race realized that this menace to Polaris must be stopped and took it upon themselves to fight back against its tyrannical rule. _

_ The Lombaxes’ initial attack was the single greatest blow the Cragmites had ever felt. Conceited in their strength, they had stretched their forces thin and were unprepared for the technologically advanced race to rebel against them with such force. _

_ The Cragmites did not stay down for long, however. They soon regrouped and retaliated, focusing all of their significant military might solely on the Lombaxes and abandoning many planets in the process. The two races fought on even ground for almost a century in a conflict so grand and galaxy-shaking that it would be known to history only as The Great War. _

_ At one point in history, its exact date lost, the first signs of change in the war's long-lasting stalemate appeared. Despite their valiant efforts and stalwart resolve, the strength of the Lombax nation was beginning to fade. The Lombax forces had sustained heavy losses over the long war, as had their enemies, but the Cragmites reproduced blindingly fast and were able to replenish their armies faster than the Lombaxes could strike them down. The Great War was slowly becoming a colossal battle of attrition whose victor was all but guaranteed. _

_ One ray of hope remained, however. Even before the Great War had begun, and the Lombaxes had taken the fight to their enemies, their most brilliant scientists had been searching desperately for a way to defeat the Cragmites once and for all. And so it was that eight of the noble race's greatest minds came together to develop a new weapon that would finally end the war and bring peace back to Polaris… but it came too late. _

_ The tide of battle had shifted against them and the Lombaxes’ last hope for victory was still incomplete. Fear began to grip many and hope all but disappeared from those few who still stood against the Cragmites. It was at that time, in the galaxy's darkest hour, that the great Lombax heroes first appeared. _

_ Legend says that they were born from the very core of the Lombax homeworld of Fastoon for the sole purpose of saving its inhabitants from extinction. Their fur burned an angry, fiery red and they fought with a skill the likes of which their enemies could do little to stand against.. Like a wave of pure power and rage, the Red Lombaxes crashed headlong into their enemies and lead the Lombax race to victory after victory. Their aid in the war miraculously drove the Cragmite armies all the way back to their home system. It was here that the vile enemies of the galaxy amassed on their home planet of Reepor for one last grand battle. _

_ Just as hope had returned to the exhausted armies of Polaris that the Great War might finally be ended, the toll taken by the seemingly endless hordes of Cragmites had once again become apparent. The advance of the Red Lombaxes had lost its momentum and the great generals of the Lombax armies knew they could not win an all-out attack on Reepor. Yet again, the tide of war began to turn against them, even as they stood on the verge of victory. _

_ However, their valiant efforts had not been in vain. The Lombaxes still had one last card to play. _

_ With the time granted to them by their crimson furred champions, the Scientists of Fastoon had finally completed their secret weapon and activated it during one last battle over Reepor's surface. In a flash of light that would be remembered for generations for signaling the end of the Great War, over a hundred years of ceaseless fighting ended and the last of the Cragmite Empire was wiped from the galaxy. _

_ As if slowly awakening from a bad dream, the inhabitants of Polaris began to accept their new reality. Eventually, the galaxy realized that they had triumphed over evil and won the Great War. They realized that at long last they'd all been freed from the terrifying grip of the Cragmite scourge. _

_ It took many years before even a fraction of the damage caused by the Great War had been repaired, but even before then, joyous revelation was the norm across the galaxy, as a new era of peace reigned across it. _

_ During this time, the ruling council of Fastoon decided that the great Lombax weapon that had put an end to their greatest enemy was also too dangerous to leave unguarded, so they hid the device in a location that not even their own people knew about. Its location and exact functions remain a mystery to this day, but everyone knows that should a threat to the peace of Polaris as great and evil as the Cragmites ever reappear, the Lombax keepers who guard it will use it once more to protect us all. _

"But what happened to the Red Lombaxes, mommy?" the small Lombax child asked of her mother from under her covers, "Where did they go?"

The child's mother looked away from the digi-pad she had been reading from and smiled at her daughter, a blanket wrapped tightly around her small body and wonder in her eyes, "Legend says that after the Cragmites were defeated, the Red Lombaxes went back to the core of Fastoon, where they sleep to this day, ready to return whenever the planet’s people are in danger," she answered.

The child seemed to ponder for a moment before looking back up excitedly, "Is daddy a Red Lombax?" she asked eagerly.

Her mother's smile faded, "No sweetie, your father isn't a Red Lombax," she sighed. "He's just incapable of reading the label on the fur dye he bought for Halloween." The small Lombax seemed to deflate a little with disappointment.  Her mother smiled again before bending down and kissing her on the forehead. "Now, it's time for bed. Have sweet dreams, ok?" she said softly.

Her daughter nodded and snuggled into bed before closing her eyes, while her mother left the room, turning off the lights and shutting the door behind her.

* * *

The Lombax woman walked down the hall to the living room where her red furred husband was reading his own digi-pad on the couch. He looked up at her as she entered the room.

"How did it go?" he asked. 

His wife glared at him and shook her head before taking a seat next to him, "She's too young for us to start telling her stories about Cragmites and wars. I can't believe I had to explain to her what a Red Lombax was just because of your obsession with their ridiculous fairy tales."

Her husband gasped in mock offence and horror, "They are ‘not’ fairy tales, they are legends; and legends always have some base in reality."

His wife fixed him with a glare of annoyance once more, "You mean like that 'Red Reapers' holo-game that you spend all your free time playing?" she criticized.

"Just because there are fictional works based on them doesn't mean they never existed," her husband retaliated. "The inspiration for things like 'The Crimson Reapers' and the 'Crimson Commander' all come from older, less detailed stories from before our time."

"You are such a fanboy," the women said disapprovingly before breaking eye-contact and looking away.

Her husband grinned, "Then that makes you the wife of a fan-boy," he replied smugly.

At last his wife threw up her arms in concession. She knew better than to try to argue with her husband about his favorite kid's story, as pathetic as that sounded. She picked up her digi-pad and tapped a few icons on its screen until the holo-book she was reading was displayed.

She then reached over to the nearby coffee table for her cup of tea that had been kept warm all this time by its temperature maintaining thermal mug. After taking a quick sip to wet her palate, she quickly skimmed over the panel until she located the highlighted letters of her digital bookmark. 

She had only managed to read about three sentences, however, before she realized that her husband hadn't returned to his own digi-pad, so she stopped and turned to face him again.

"What are you staring at?" she asked him suspiciously as she took another sip of her tea.

Her husband's grin broadened as his tail danced mischievously behind him, "Have you ever heard of a holo-film called 'Red Passion?" His wife spat out her mouthful of tea in shock, accidentally breathing some into her windpipe as she did so and coughing violently to expel it. "So you have then?” continued the man, taking his wife’s reaction as an answer. “When I started it on our Holo-flix the other day, I thought it was weird that it began in the middle. You know… after that one scene.

The woman finally managed to clear her throat, but refused to make eye-contact. Slowly, and with a shaking hand, she put down her holo-book,before standing up again. She tried hiding her embarrassed expression from view as she turned to leave, but her husband caught her gently by the shoulders.

"You know, since I'm stuck looking like a Red Lombax for the moment, we could make the most of the situation," as he spoke he tightened his grip on her shoulders slightly. "After all, whatever my beautiful wife wants…"

The woman tried to pull away from his grip and refused to face him, "What nonsense are you talking abo-"

Her words were cut off by the sensation of fingers running along the back of her head and through her long fur. The familiar feeling instinctively made her breathing heavier and her heart began to race. A second later her husband's hand came back down across her scalp, much more firmly this time, as he scratched behind her ears, causing electricity to flood her nervous system and every nerve in her body to tingle. Her muscles tensed and relaxed spastically and her neck arched beyond her control toward her husband's rhythmic scratching.

As he continued, the man leaned in and whispered in his wife’s ear, "How about we reenact the legendary Red Lombax assault on Mortyas Canyon?" he said softly, before kissing his wife's exposed neck.

"Stop it," she protested weakly as her husband slowly pulled her back toward the couch, though, she didn't offer much resistance. "Our daughter is sleeping in just the other room."

"It's ok," the man assured her quietly and comfortingly, "it was a stealth mission!"

* * *

The expressionless metal face stared into Kaden’s eyes with its own empty glass ones and he was unable to break from its gaze. The red-furred Lombax slowly tilted its head to one side and continued to stare. Several seconds passed after that and neither one moved.

At last, the armored Lombax in the room took action by taking two steps forward. As it did Kaden took two steps back instinctively. The Lombax then raised its left arm in the air and Kaden's mind raced to try and predict what they were about to do. 

He could come no conclusions as he watched, transfixed, as the mysterious, armored figure placed its hand on the wall.

A second later the door between the two of them slid shut and a soft 'click' sounded as the compartment's door lock engaged. Kaden could still see the mysterious Lombax through the door's window and he continued to stare dumbfounded until the compartment's lights switched off, leaving behind nothing but the same black depth he had seen just moments ago.

Kaden slowly moved out of sight of the compartment window and put his back against the nearest wall. His head was spinning as his reality was being rewritten. 

See, to Kaden, understanding and knowledge was an absolute of life. He had dedicated himself to understanding and knowing everything he could about everything there was and rarely came across something he couldn't comprehend. He hated not knowing something, or being caught unaware.

However, there was one thing that Kaden hated even more that being ignorant to an answer and that was believing in an answer that was incorrect. It was the ultimate insult to his intelligence and intelligent thought in general. It was way beyond simply 'not knowing'… it was him being ‘wrong’! And any intelligent organism knows that believing incorrect information can be several factors more damaging than having no information at all.

Whenever Kaden came to the realization that he might be wrong about something, his mind didn't take it very well. Almost all of his mental functions ceased as he was forced to re-evaluated every thought and rationale he had. Now that Kaden was aware of a flaw in his logic, his mind went on a purge to ensure that it was removed and that no more existed.

_ 'Red Lombaxes aren't real.' _

This was a thought that, mere seconds ago, Kaden would never have doubted.

Even though he had been entertaining the idea earlier, Kaden came to realize that he'd never truly believed that Red Lombaxes could be real and had not simply been searching for evidence, but for evidence that proved him right. This was sacrilege to scientific process and it ignited a grand internal debate to find the truth.

One part of Kaden's mind continued to adamantly refuse the possibility that Red Lombaxes could be real. This part was a more primal bit that also simply didn't want to acknowledge that he was wrong. It argued that several factors could explain what he'd just seen without resorting to changing what was, until recently, an established fact. 

Things such as, his surprised mental state during the event, the short time with which he had to observe the evidence, and the lack of fur visible at the time. There was also the possibility that the supposed Red Lombax in question had simply dyed their fur red. It wouldn't be the first time Kaden had seen someone attempt this.

At that same exact time, another part of Kaden's mind argued for the opposite. Declaring that there was no evidence that the fur had been dyed and by pointing out the coincidences of the suspected Red Lombax having boarded the train from the mysterious island of Magnaron as well as Sorana's prediction of there being Red Lombaxes at all.

As the debate raged silently within Kaden's mind, another part of him accidentally added gelatonium to the flames by bringing up the realization that the Red Lombax had mysteriously appeared in the room that Kaden had searched, without being noticed.

Again two sides of Kaden's mind flared up to debate yet another discrepancy in what his perception had found, even as the fires of the previous argument still burned.

The arguments raged on within Kaden, increasing his heart rate and blood pressure with frustration. The debate in his head refused to ease at all because there simply wasn't enough evidence to prove one side right over the other, leaving multiple questions unanswered.

Just as the young Lombax was on the verge of doing something rash, a painfully loud tone screeched out over the train's intercom and cut violently across Kaden's thoughts. 

A moment later the Dean's voice spoke once more, "As much as I'd like to keep you walking endangerments to my school's reputation confined, I am officially lifting the ban on leaving your compartments. Though, I only do so for worry of what happens when scared little children don't have access to a restroom. The Quasar Express will be arriving at the academy shortly, so prepare yourselves." The tone then cut out again, leaving Kaden alone in silence once more.

The sudden interruption, though, came as a great reprieve for Kaden. The void it caused in his focus allowed him to suppress the mental arguments by filling it with thoughts of actions. Though he was still forced to use only the barest minimum of cognitive function necessary, the shaken Lombax managed to shuffle his way back through the train toward his compartment on autopilot, as he continued to review recent events in the back of his mind.

Here and there students were leaving their compartments or reentering them. Had Kaden been in a stable state of mind he would have appreciated the irony that he had just traversed this same hallway less than an hour before like a spy in a holo-film.

He arrived at his compartment a short while later with no interruptions. As he tapped the door panel and activated the opening sequence, he re-verified to himself that the only purpose of the icon he had just pressed was to open the compartment door and that no other consequences would result.

The compartment door slid away and revealed Sorana and Alister sitting where Kaden had left them earlier. They both immediately turned toward the sound of the door, before recognizing the person who stood in the entryway.

Alister's mouth bent into a grin at the safe return of his friend, but also from the relief of knowing that he wouldn't be alone with Sorana anymore. The awkwardness had not completely dissipated yet and the atmosphere was still a little hostile. This was reflected in Sorana's expression which darkened at the sight of Kaden's return.

However, both of his friends' expressions slowly reformed themselves into identical looks of concern when he simply walked into the compartment and sat down without acknowledging either of them, seemingly deep in thought. 

The tan Lombax then put his elbows on his knees, interlaced his fingers, rested his chin on his hands and stared intensely at the floor as his mind, now having completed its pre-designated task of returning to the compartment, returned fully to its internal review.

Sorana and Alister both looked at each other and shared a shared a common understanding with one another, before turning back to their silent friend. Both of them recognized when Kaden was truly focused on something, but neither could even imagine what was actually going on inside his head.

"So... how'd it go?" Alister asked eventually.

Kaden didn't respond at first, it took almost a full second before the question broke through the traffic jam of synaptic firings to reach his awareness, "How'd what go?" he replied blankly. The response had been issued almost entirely by his subconscious.

"You know, your trip? Were there any Red Lombaxes on the train?" Alister continued.

A sudden spike of neural activity was redirected to Alister in that moment, as Kaden's mind recognized the phrase 'Red Lombaxes' and the priority of the incoming words was increased to the point of warranting conscious attention. In a flash of eye movement, Kaden's intense gaze shifted onto Alister.

The white-furred Lombax was surprised by the sudden glare and tensed his muscles reflexively. After another second though, Kaden's eyes turned back to the floor as he realized that Alister had no new information to add.

"There was a Lombax," Kaden began to answer distractedly, "they had red fur." Then Kaden was silent again.

Something seemed off about Kaden's answer that made Alister want to confirm it, "Soooooo... you did see one?" he asked cautiously.

_ 'Had there been only one?' _ The question was immediately launched to the forefront of Kaden's mind. He had searched most of the compartments from here to the front of the train and had only found one, but another side of his mind pointed out that the one had managed to elude his perception for at least a limited time, meaning there were no guarantees that he hadn't missed others.

At last his mind concluded that the volume capacity of the train was a physical limit to the number of Red Lombaxes that could be onboard, minus the number of other Lombaxes and robot porters he'd seen so there couldn't have been many more than a thousand of them onboard. 

Alister was still waiting for a confirmation to Kaden's comment, but his question had been buried in his friend's psyche under the weight of its own evaluation.

Assuming that Kaden simply didn't want to repeat himself, Alister decided to press on, "What did they look like?" he tried asking next.

Kaden wasn't sure why, but an image of the alleged 'Red Lombax' he'd seen was brought to the forefront of his mind, so he felt compelled to re-examine them.

The Lombax had been wearing an industrial oxygen mask and a pair of dark-tinted miner's goggles. These two pieces of apparel could be explained by the harsh environment of Magnaron Island. They would be necessary to live on the ash strewn surface.

As for the armor they'd worn, it appeared to be an old suit of type G-83 medium combat armor. The historical records of Kaden's mind reviewed that it had been designed for improved movement without sacrificing vital pieces of its parent G-82 heavy-armor variant. Its design was airtight and was meant to be worn in both the vacuum of space and hazardous environments. It had been manufactured only during The Great War and would be considered a relic by today's standards. This was further evidenced by how it wasn't designed with injectors for nano-tech, or an uplink for a modern neural computer implant like a NID.

The suit was also made before the invention of most modern strong-light composites that were used to protect high-risk body parts, I.E. the tail and ears. Instead, its design called for them to be folded into the armor when it was equipped. It was very uncomfortable, but it was better than getting them ripped or burnt off in an explosion. 

Even today the necessary materials to protect ears and tails were expensive. Most modern armor relied on nanotech to repair those areas rather than protect them. It was a bit grisly, but much more economical to repair such non-vital body parts here and there with nanotech then to wrap them in super expensive, but lightweight and flexible, protective material.

Once again Alister found himself left without a reply. He knew that he was definitely being ignored now, but wasn't mad about it. It only meant that Kaden had receded so far into his thoughts that he was gone from this world. Alister knew from experience that nothing could get through Kaden's mind now. More than anything though, Alister simply wondered what could have caused his friend's current state.

But it wasn't just Alister who was wondering what had happened. Sorana had remained silent up until now, this time due to the fact that she was legitimately angry with Kaden, but as she watched her friend sit, motionlessly staring into the floor, her anger quickly turned to worry.

"Kaden, are you alright?" Sorana asked with concern.

Kaden slowly tilted his head and looked up at Sorana. His mind had registered the concern in her voice and the raging debate within it slowly ground to a halt. Reluctantly, he was forced to admit to himself that there was simply not enough information to find a definitive answer, regardless of how long he thought about it. All he was doing now was causing Sorana to worry about him and all the sides of his mind agreed that he didn't want that.

With considerable effort, the internal review and its questions were shoved deep into the back of Kaden's mind and locked away for another time.

"Sorry, Sor," he answered with a dim smile. "I was just... thinking about something."

Sorana eyed him cautiously for another second before relaxing her shoulders and nodding back her acknowledgement with an, "Alright... If you say so."

* * *

The Quasar Express pulled smoothly into a docking station set in the side of a massive mountaintop. The mountain itself, aptly named Mt. Supernova, and the areas surrounding its base, were owned entirely by Nova Academy. 

Because of the angle with which the train had approached the mountain, Kaden and his friends had yet to see anything of the great academy, but they were all brimming with excitement now. Even Kaden, who was still recovering from his previous system shock, couldn't keep his pulse from quickening at the thought of finally seeing the greatest school on the planet.

Time seemed to pass in a kind of restrained hurry for every new student as they disembarked from the Quasar Express. Nobody was rushing or moving faster than was natural, but there was a sense of urgency they all shared in wanting to see what the academy was actually like. Kaden and his friends stepped off the train and onto a sky station platform along with nearly a thousand or so other students. The station was big. Not as big as the one in Valmecha, but it was much less worn down from constant use and benefited from the frequent upkeep and cleaning that came with private ownership.

Several large Grav-lifts rose up from the floor, along the platform. On them traveled the luggage that had been stored aboard the train's lower compartments. The bags were then piled onto grav-carts by lifter bots as they came up, before being taken away through a gate at the far end of the station.

Monitor-bots hovered around the growing mass of young Lombaxes and soon set about the task of organizing the students into lines of twenty, before sending these groups intermittently through the station's main entrance. 

Kaden was unfortunate enough to be selected as the last student in a line, so he was temporarily separated from Alister and Sorana, who were moved to the front of the next line. He waved a temporary goodbye as they followed a monitorbot to the front of the next line and waited at the back of his.

From where he stood at the rear of everything, he could see that the process was moving quickly. At this point, no one wanted to be responsible for holding up the proceedings, so everyone seemed focused on following the flow; there wasn't as much idle chatter as one would expect.

There was another reason for the silence, though. It was clear to anyone on the platform that almost everyone else had one other thing at the forefront of their thoughts at that current moment and it was both red and heavily armored.

Waiting in a line just a few rows down from Kaden, the Red Lombax that he had seen on the train stood patiently awaiting their line's turn to move.

It was definitely unusual to see something out of legend standing in line like it was natural, but that only made sense really. After all, this Lombax was supposedly a new student of the academy just like anyone else.

All across the platform students were trying to catch a glimpse of the strange Lombax without being too obvious. The Lombax in question looked straight ahead without moving a muscle or showing any signs that they were even aware of the attention they were getting. The most entertaining sight by far, however, was that of the students standing immediately in front of and behind the armored one.

The student in front clearly wanted to get a look at Lombax behind her, but she knew that any attempt to do so would be extremely obvious. The student behind the red-furred Lombax on the other hand, had the exact opposite problem. If he faced forward, he would look straight at the strange Lombax's back. However, he, like almost everyone else, feared staring blatantly at them, so he instead constantly shifted his eyes around the platform to prevent looking forward while having to keep his body straight with the line. It looked very uncomfortable.

Throughout the sea of half-hidden glances and flickering eye movements, there was one large exception. Kaden, having once again spotted the source of his recent mental distress made no attempt to hide his gaze as he stared brazenly at the red-furred Lombax’s motionless figure. 

His mind worked like a machine as it quickly recorded vital information such its subject’s height, build, armor distinctions, and most importantly, the fur on their ears. To the disappointment of a large portion of his mind, there were no obvious signs that the fur had been dyed or otherwise made to look red unnaturally.

Without warning, the red-furred Lombax spun its head around to stare back at Kaden and once again met his gaze with their own covered eyes. Kaden's heart skipped a beat in surprise. The other Lombax had been several students ahead of him and in their own line. They had needed to turn their head nearly 110 degrees to look at him. The question of how they'd managed to notice him while seemingly staring straight ahead was thrown onto the pile of growing questions that he still couldn't seem to answer.

The few students that stood unfortunately between the two Lombaxes nearly hit the ground in alarm before moving out of the way and finding, to their relief, that they were not the gaze’s intended target. 

For the next several seconds all was still. Many other students were staring now, curious as to what was going on. The red-furred Lombax continued to stare unflinchingly at Kaden who, in return, was once again unable to break his gaze from the artificial face.

Since nothing had moved for several moments at this point, it made even the smallest movements obvious. This was the case with the almost imperceptible relaxation of the muscles in the armored Lombax’s far-side leg. It was the muscle relaxation that occurred when one moved all their weight to one foot to allow the other leg to take a step.

A sharp buzz rang out from one of the monitor-bots, freezing the red-furred Lombax's foot with only its heel barely off the ground. The students at the front of the Lombax's line had been too distracted to notice that it was their turn to go, which caused the monitorbot to sound its warning tone. 

The faceless, armored Lombax continued to stare at Kaden as the line began to file away one at a time. It was only as the student that had been directly in front of them began to move forward, that the mysterious Lombax finally turned and marched away as well.

As the last glimpse of red armor disappeared through the station's main entrance, Kaden let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. It seemed that he had gained even more new questions while having still gained no new answers. 

For Kaden, the puzzle of the Red Lombax had only just begun and his mind still desperately wanted to solve it, but this time he was able to keep the arguments from resurfacing. He had already held up the new student integration progress once, even if only for a few seconds, and he didn't want to do so again. Whatever the solution to the mystery was, it would have to wait.

* * *

At last it was Kaden's line's turn and the twenty of them marched single file through the platform's main entrance and down a long hallway. To their left was a large, Raritanium-reinforced door which was followed by a wall of black glass that pulsed every few seconds with a faint blue glow. 

_ 'This must be security,' _ thought Kaden. On the other side of the glass were probably academy security guards watching their every move. The glass itself was also likely scanning them at this very moment.

A brief sensation of dread ran through Kaden's mind as he began to doubt that the precautions he'd taken to guard his bag of equipment from scanners, while tried and tested against Praetorian Police scanners, might not be enough to fool Nova Academy security. He had been sure of his handiwork before he'd left home, but now he doubted even his own technical skills. 

This feeling quickly dissipated, however, as he managed to reach the end of the hallway and past the end of the black glassed wall. It seemed that his precautions had been enough. Either that, or Nova Academy security didn't mind what he was carrying in his bag, which seemed ‘highly’ unlikely given what he kept in it.

Once the group was out of the hallway, they emerged into a large, indoor courtyard with a vaulted ceiling. All around its edges were lines of benches and tables where travelers, waiting to board their skytrains, could relax. At the room's center was a towering water fountain that reached up to the top of the ceiling.

The group of the students were so distracted by the room's elegance that the Monitorbot who was guiding them had to sound its warning tone to regain their attention. Everyone turned in unison to the source of the noise to find the floating robot waiting impatiently by a doorway that was hidden in the wall. Kaden surmised that the door was usually sealed when new students weren't arriving.

Just inside the doorway was another hallway that was flanked by two rows of ten chairs. Each one was set in its own stone recess. The chairs themselves were nothing special, but they all sat next to their own, standard NID interface array that was bolted to the adjacent recess wall.

The first person in the line walked down to the first chair on their right while the second took the first chair on the left. Each of the twenty students followed this pattern and took their corresponding seats.

Once seated, a neural connector arm slowly unfolded from the arrays on the wall before laying a small metal panel over the area where their necks met their shoulders. NIDs could be 'hard' accessed by sending electric and magnetic waves through the skin which would then be picked up by its receiver. This way, no one had to have a plug sticking out of their head for secure access abilities.

Kaden sat in one of the chairs and felt the antennae of the connector touch his fur. Immediately he received a notification symbol in the corner of his peripheral vision that his NID was being accessed. He gave his permission with a thought and a holo-screen appeared in front of him. It asked to verify his permission for access again, which he did. 

Once verified, a long list of questions replaced the screen, most of which were filled in automatically from his NID's ID and preferences database. There was also a progress bar at the bottom which represented the status of his security clearance uplink. When it was complete, his NID's ID signature would be added to the academy database and he'd be given access to Nova Academy's digital resources and entrances, among other things.

Kaden quickly ran through the list and answered every unanswered question he found on the digital form, most of which were simply asking him to agree to being aware of the school rules and that punishment would follow any damage or injury that resulted. 

The strange wording made him wonder, though. In the past he had signed, and broken, many of these kinds of agreements, but they usually involved promising to follow the rules as well as acknowledging that he understood them. Strangely, there was no such promise in these forms, just agreements that he was aware of what they were.

After the list was filled out, a final verification notice appeared that showed his field association. 

In Nova Academy there were three main fields of education: Science, Art, and Military. Each of the three categories was a very broad cover of everything related to it. No matter what you chose, you were still likely to take classes from the other Fields, you just had to pick where you were focusing your studies. Kaden's Field was science, something that was obvious for someone of his nature.

There were also students known as ‘Cross-fielders’, who studied directly under teachings from two fields at once. These titles were only for more advanced students, but their names were self-explanatory: Military Arts, Military Sciences, and Scientific Arts.

The security access bar finally reached one hundred percent and Kaden was notified that he now had access to entrances, terminals, and any information for his clearance level in Nova Academy. He acknowledged the notification and closed out of the entrance form. The holo-panel then dissolved away and the NID connector antenna retracted.

As Kaden left his seat, the floating monitorbot noticed his movement and hovered over to him. In a pre-rendered, generic robot voice, the monitorbot told Kaden to proceed down the hallway and await to be addressed by the academy dean in the plaza. Kaden nodded to the robot and made his way as ordered. Soon however, he ran into a line of students that were moving at a very slow pace.

Kaden took his place in line and wondered what it was for. There were no other directions to go except back the way he came, so he simply waited.

Time ticked by slowly and the line moved at a rate of only a few students at a time. Several minutes passed along with only a few meters of progress being made, which only served to frustrate Kaden even more. Luckily, there was a bright side to the hold-up.

"I see you're still as patient and calm as always," said Alister, upon seeing his friend’s twitchy stance.

Kaden turned around to find his two friends had caught up with his group. He gave them a smile in greeting before turning back to the traffic jam of Lombaxes, "I really wouldn't be so irritated by this if I knew what this line was even for," he explained. "The monitorbot said wait in the plaza, so then why is there a clog of bodies before we get there?"

Alister shrugged his shoulders with indifference, but Sorana actually gave it some thought, "If the monitor-bots were talking about the main plaza for the academy then that means you can see the whole Academy grounds from it. The line might have formed because every time someone steps out of this passage way and onto the plaza, they see the amazing splendor of the academy all at once and just have to stop and take it in." Sorana had a dreamy expression on her face as she imagined how amazing the academy would have to look to cause such a reaction.

Alister grinned to himself at the thought as well, "I don't know if that's the case, Sorana, but if there was any place worthy of thought-stopping awe, it'd be the Nova for sure."

Sorana nodded her agreement and both she and Alister turned to Kaden who was staring at the line in front of them and whose expression was the opposite of dreamy or awed, "That would be completely ridiculous!" he spat with visible contempt in his voice. "Don't they know people are waiting back here?!"

Sorana frowned a little at Kaden's mood killing, "Well, even if that is the case, there's nothing we can do about it, so let's just be patient."

Kaden continued to stare for a few more seconds before finally nodding his head, "Alright... hold your breath for sixty seconds."

Sorana breathed a sigh of relief at first, but stopped as she registered Kaden's words, "Huh? What do you mean-" but before she could finish her question, Kaden produced what appeared to be a large metal egg from his bag.

He twisted the top of the oval shaped object until there was a click followed by a rhythmic set of beeping. Kaden then raised the object high over his head and took in a deep breath before holding.

Sorana's eyes were wide in surprise, "Kaden, what is that thing?" As way of an answer, Alister's hand landed heavily on her shoulder.

She turned around to face him and there was panic in his expression, "No time Sor! Deep breath!" he said before copying Kaden and inhaling deeply and holding it.

Sorana didn't have time to think as the beeping on the object in Kaden's hand began to increase its pace. At last, she too breathed in deeply just as the beeping stopped and was replaced by a loud hissing noise coming from Kaden's outstretched arm.

At first nothing seemed to happen. Sorana looked around confused for a second and was about to let go of her breath when there was a horrible gagging-cough from one of the surrounding students. It was then followed by another, and then another and, within moments, the entire hallway was filled with the sound of panicked shouts and noises of disgust.

Sorana was too stunned to react as she simply watched the chaos unfold. When she turned back to Kaden, he hadn't moved a muscle. He simply stood there, holding the gas emitting object high above his head with a grumpy look of discontent on his face. Sorana wanted to yell at him, but she recognized now the dangers of opening her mouth.

Kaden had used his NID to bring a small chronometer up onto his peripheral vision and had been watching it ever since he'd released the noxious gas from his homemade stink-bomb. He had genetically altered the proteins for the odor himself to make them potent, but timed. As he watched the timer on the edge of his sight strike zero, he lowered the bomb back into his bag and took an experimental sniff of the air... there was nothing.

Kaden grinned wide. Biological work wasn't his strongest ability, but that was one of the reasons he was proud of his work this time. Unlike most stink-bombs which rely on unbreakable elements like sulfur to produce powerful odors, Kaden had built an aerosolized protein that assaulted the sensitive Lombax olfactory nerves and mimicked a terrible odor. The true brilliance of the design however, was that the protein chain he'd made could be set with a genetic timer. Exactly sixty seconds after the gas had been initialized, the chain would break down into the basic carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms that it was made of. This meant the smell disappeared completely and that there was no proof of what had caused it either.

Noticing that Kaden had started breathing again, both Alister and Sorana let out theirs and set about breathing heavily to make up for the sudden lack of oxygen.

"Wha-What was that!?" gasped Sorana in a strained voice. She was too angry to even wait for her breath to come back before she started scolding.

Kaden shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "An experiment really," he answered as he waited for his friends' breathing to return to normal.

"Wh-Why!?" Sorana gasped.

Kaden gestured to the now completely empty hallway and the newly visible sunlight at the end of it, "Line's gone," he said with a self-satisfied tone.

Sorana finally caught her breath and righted her posture before narrowing her eyes at Kaden, "And what happens when someone comes to find out what caused the stampede of panicked students?" she demanded.

Kaden grinned, "I had some bad tacos for lunch. Natural bodily function, can't be helped," he explained, before laughing to himself and heading toward the end of the hall.

Sorana gawked in disbelief as he padded off, "Who would possibly believe that?" she called after him.

Alister stepped up to Sorana’s side and coughed one last time to clear his throat, "It worked last time and there won't be any evidence to contrary. Trust me. Just be glad he felt kind enough to warn ‘you’ this time." And with that, Alister followed Kaden down the hall.

Sorana remained where she stood for a few moments after, shaking her head unhappily. However, she had no more motivation to argue at the moment and, if she was honest, she hated waiting in line too.

The trio then continued down the tunnel towards the opening and walked through it before stopping dead in their tracks. They now stood on the edge of a wide plaza that sat embedded in the peak of a mountain. It was full of Lombaxes, the nearest of which lay kneeling and sprawled across the ground, gasping for air. 

The plaza itself was flanked by two simple buildings of similar size and plain design. They were like any normal Fastoonian school administration buildings. The plaza then split off into three, separate directions, each path heading toward one of the three groups of buildings in the distance.

Of the three, the walkway to the left went down in altitude slightly, toward several building with simple architecture. Sturdy looking, but lacking in aesthetics, they had all been built around a massive stadium in the center of the grouping. There was also a shuttle dock that hung off the side of the mountain to their left. 

Kaden knew right away that this was the Military field's section of school grounds. Not just because it emphasized an arena and had military class spacecraft stationed at its docks, but also because there was a giant banner stretched above and across the pathway leading to it that read: 'The path ahead is paved with blood, sweat and tears... but mostly tears.'

At the end of the center pathway, stood an enormous tower that stretched straight up into the clouds, which wasn't far considering they were on a mountain, but it was still impressive. The building seemed to be made completely out of crystal and the architecture didn't look like it should be able to stand on its own the way it did. Surrounding the tower’s base were smaller buildings of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. 

Clearly this was the Art Field's area. It boggled Kaden's mind as to why anyone would want to be surrounded by such randomness and lack of visible coordination. He'd never say this out loud though, especially with Sorana standing just to his right, her eyes brimming with awe and excitement as she studied the strange buildings.

The third and final path led all the way to the right of the mountain and up a bit. A circular building took up the focus of the view. It was made mostly of polished metal and glass. The top of it mushroomed out in a giant oval shape and was made mostly of clear material, like an observation area. A large, mostly see-through walkway connected this building to a square, but no less shiny building that almost matched the main one's size.

This was obviously the Science Field by process of elimination alone, but its simplistic yet efficient design made it unmistakable. 

This area was where Kaden would spend most of the foreseeable future designing, building, and learning everything the greatest school in the galaxy had to offer. Now it was his turn to stare in amazement. He stopped as soon as he realized how much of it he was doing, but turned to see Sorana smiling at him.

"Well," she declared in a pleased tone, "it would seem there are things that can impress even Kaden."

Kaden frowned for a second, but soon matched her smile and shrugged before walking forward into the crowd, stepping over a few students as he did so. 

Most of the Lombaxes appeared to be new students. Here and there some were being greeted by current students that they must have known before coming to the academy. He could also easily tell which field these few students belonged to.

Military students all wore some form of armor or military styled uniform. They also all carried various types of weaponry, or at least he assumed they were all weapons. It was really hard to tell with some of them.

What was common about the attire of the Art students was that they wore ‘nothing’ in common. They all, including boys, sported anything from dresses to suits to heavy jackets to whatever that student to Kaden's left was wearing. Some wore clothes stained with paint or mud and most of their hair styles hurt his eyes to look at.

As for the Science Field students, they all wore some kind of lab gear. Many had goggles on their head or antennae coming from somewhere. A few even sported tiny robots that sat on their shoulders, hovered around them, or were attached to their backs. Kaden had heard that many Science Field Lombaxes from the academy took to carrying around robotic companions for aid with various tasks and calculations. He briefly wondered whether he should get one too.

* * *

Kaden and his two friends were pointing out and discussing various observations about the Academy, when the final students exited the tunnels.

All discussion then ceased as they were interrupted by the same giant hologram from the train, which materialized in front of the paths to the three Field areas. The dean looked down at them all with a strangely irritated facial expression. All of the senior students immediately went dead silent and stiff, before turning to face her. Everyone else followed their example.

"This is Nova Academy," she boomed over them. "But more importantly, this is ‘my’ academy. You are all here because you were the best of your hometowns, cities, or villages, but, in this school, you're just average at best. I don't have time to explain everything to you, especially with the cost of running a fifty foot hologram, so I leave that to your fellow students in your respective Fields."

The dean paused a moment to look at something out of the student's view before continuing, "Contrary to popular belief, there most certainly are stupid questions. To your collective right is the office where staff members who are trained, and very well paid to be kind and supportive, will answer your stupid questions,” She said with a holographic gesture to the plain building on Kaden’s right. 

“To your left is my office, if you see the inside of it you are probably either in very deep trouble, or are about to be for trespassing. There are several punishments that I keep on a dartboard in my office as well as more specific-to-crime ones that I hope you all get the chance to learn about, but as per school tradition, the first student to break a rule that is a class three offense or higher will be launched out of the Science Field's rapid velocity inducer. Now, proceed down the pathway to whichever Academy Field that you chose. When you get there follow the instructions of the student that looks or acts like the most important one there. And good luck students… you’ll need it." The hologram evaporated a second later and left Kaden wondering how someone like Vasile Tor'doran became the dean of Nova Academy.

The three friends stood together as everyone began moving to their designated walkways. The three of them turned to each other to say farewell since each of them were going down a different path.

"Well then," Alister started first. "I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Only if Kaden can stay away from that velocity-thing until then," Sorana said. Her tone was mostly full of humor, but it also contained just a touch of actual concern.

"Do you think so little of me, my dear Sorana?" Kaden replied with mock hurt in his voice. "I wouldn't dream of getting into trouble... well, at least not about getting caught, at my new school for at least a month."

Both his friends stared at him with unconvinced expressions. Alister leaned over to whisper in Sorana's ear, "Five bolts says he's shot out of the fancy cannon by tomorrow night."

The comment caused a quickly stifled giggle from Sorana. She then cleared her throat and stood up straight, "Ahem, and with that gentlemen, farewell," she said with a bow before turning on her heel and setting off towards the middle walkway, alongside the most colorful of the crowd.

Kaden and Alister watched her go for a while before turning to each other and trading wide grins. They both realized that there was nothing left to say. Alister struck his heels together and threw a stiff salute to Kaden before turning and walking towards the Military Field with the heavily armored crowd.

After one last glance toward the two other fields Kaden likewise turned and walked down his own path to the Science Field, following the remaining crowd and his new classmates. The large group marched in silence as everyone took in the steadily growing buildings in the distance. 

The closer they got, the more details they could see.

From his current position, Kaden now saw that the two main buildings were not the majority of the Science Field's property. The pathway he walked on came right up to the edge of the mountain plateau that the main plaza had sat on and he was able to see down the side of the mountain. All along its sides, as far his visibility could reach, there were windows and walls of similar design to the main buildings. This told the young Science Fielder that the mountain itself was probably hollowed out and that there was no telling how much more space there was for the academy.

Regardless, Kaden had no doubt that whatever awaited him inside this mountain would be far from boring.


	9. The Science Field

The journey from the main plaza to the science field was completed in what felt like a short time and Kaden soon found himself standing on the edge of a much smaller plaza that connected to the entrances of the two silver colored buildings he'd seen earlier.

One Lombax was standing alone in the middle of the plaza, watching the new students as they made their way down the path. He had brilliantly white fur that was lined with thin black stripes. He wore a large, white lab coat, like most of the science field students, but his seemed somehow sleeker and more like a suit than a work outfit. A small, mechanical orb caught Kaden's eye as it floated gently above the Lombax's right shoulder.

Behind the man stood another group of students that almost matched the size of the new students' group. Most were wearing their signature white coats and mimicked the Lombax at the center in how they studied the new arrivals curiously.

As soon as everyone from the main plaza was assembled and no one was left on the walkway the Lombax at the center began to speak, "My name is Varick Adjunaris," he announced loud enough for everyone to hear clearly. "I am the president of the Science Field and I'd like to be the first, as I'm sure our beloved Dean Tor'doran has not, to officially welcome you to Nova Academy and, more specifically, to congratulate you all on your excellent choice in joining its Science Field."

Varick smiled wide at his comment and Kaden was surprised by how many teeth he managed to show with such a simple and friendly grin, "As some of you already know, Nova Academy has a much more complex system of learning than most other schools. To help you adjust quickly to it, you will each receive a 'mentor' who is your elder in the academy. They will show you around and answer your questions for the rest of the semester, so rely on them for firsthand information and endeavor to learn as much about your new home as possible while you can. Some of you have already met your elders," Varick paused and gave a slight nod that was directed toward the elder students already in the group. "I leave the rest to them. As for everyone else, I will read your name and you will step forward to meet your mentor."

As soon as Varick stopped talking the elder students in the crowd started walking towards the square building to their right, each one with a wide-eyed, new student in tow, leaving Kaden and a couple hundred others behind. 

Varick waited for the first group to leave the area before he reached out a hand as if holding something in the air. Upon seeing this motion from its master, the floating, robotic orb hovered down to Varick’s outstretched hand and projected a holographic screen that he used like a digi-pad.

From the screen, he read off each student's name one at a time. As he read each one, a student from Kaden's group walked forward. As they walked toward Varick, a student from the group behind him would also walk forward and greet them halfway. The two would then both move toward the square building and enter like the others had done.

It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone's name had been called and they'd all left the plaza. Everyone, that is, besides Kaden and Varick. 

Kaden had his suspicions, but he wasn't exactly sure why only the two of them remained. Varick glanced around the plaza to make sure there were no stragglers before dropping his arms to his sides and walking forward. As he did, the hologram display disappeared and his robot floated back to its place above his right shoulder.

When he'd crossed the field and reached Kaden, he stopped and offered the young Lombax his hand, "You must be Kaden, correct?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes, I am," answered Kaden simply before taking the offered hand and shaking it.

Now that Kaden could see Varick up close he realized something: Varick was extremely handsome. It felt odd to make a note of something so superficial, but he knew the word fit. He was tall for a Lombax and his fur was evenly kept and symmetrical, but most impressive was the vibe he gave off. 

Kaden didn't like to judge people the moment he met them (his personal policy required that he ask at least two questions and learn their holo-net email before he could reasonably peg a person), but he knew just from the way Varick moved, the way he spoke, and the way he smiled that this Lombax was born to carry authority, or that he had at least learned how to do it very well.

"As I'm sure you've guessed by now, Kaden, I will be your mentor," said Varick cheerfully. “I expect great things from you and not just because of how many bolts your mentorship rights cost.”

"Bolts?" Kaden repeated in confusion, unsure of what Varick meant by 'mentorship rights'.

"Hmmm," intoned Varick as he thought for a moment. "Let's start a little further back shall we? Nova Academy is a school meant to turn a student with the best potential in the galaxy, into the best Lombax in the galaxy. To do this end, the elders have found that making the academy mimic real life challenges offered the best learning results. Like the saying goes: 'The galaxy is the best teacher'." Varick paused to let Kaden think for a bit.

Kaden had known this much about the academy due to his research on it (and by 'research' he meant 'read the brochure'). There was surprisingly little information on the holo-net about the details of living at Nova Academy.

Varick noted Kaden's expression and continued his explanation, "Everything in the school will cost you bolts and there are no rules on how to get them. We don’t mess around with vague ‘credit’ or ‘point’ systems here. Cold hard bolts are as powerful at Nova as they are in the real world. All new students will be given an allowance, from which you must purchase your housing, meals, and other basic living expenses. Don't worry though, this is a school after all and there is a safety net for students. It does, however, come with some rather humiliating repayment options, but I'm sure you won't have to worry about that. The primary way most students receive- hmm… that is to say, ‘earn’ bolts is to do jobs for the academy, though you won't have that option as a fuzzy."

"What's a fuzzy?" interrupted Kaden at the mention of the strange word.

Varick laughed at the question, "Yes, I'm sorry about that. You see, a 'fuzzy' is actually academy slang for a new student at Nova. Its origins are believed to have been derived from the peach fuzz of a newborn baby, meaning that you are like a newborn to the rest of us." Kaden didn't like how Varick grinned and looked him straight in the eye as he said 'you', and his eyes narrowed with displeasure.

Varick's expression faded slightly. Kaden almost didn't notice it, but before he could look any closer, Varick cleared his throat and continued, "Ahem, every semester Nova Academy gets a fresh crop of students from all over Fastoon. There are relatively few full time instructors here, as many of the teaching positions are taken by elder students, so there aren't enough staff to be tasked with babysitting the new ones. So, like most of its problems, the school fixes this by throwing bolts at it, so to speak. Current students are paid a small fee to become a mentor during the beginning of fuzzy season, err... the new school term."

"Ok," said Kaden inquisitively, "but you said ‘you’ paid to be my mentor?"

Again Varick smiled, "Hmm, yes, well, ever since the mentoring system has been around there has been a student tradition of bidding for the rights to mentor new students that show the most potential and would likely make a good ally during their time at here at Nova. Many elder students have large projects that are required as part of their curriculum, are for extra credit, or just to make some bolts. These projects often need a lot scientific baxpower to complete, so think of ‘mentorship rights’ as a way to recruit talent for future use. Let me just say this though, buying the mentor rights for the great Kaden of Valmecha's 2nd district cost me quite the shiny bolt or two."

Kaden was at first shocked by the notion that people had been bidding on the rights to teach him, but if he was honest, he was more pleased than anything and he took it as a complement, but it was still strange. 

"What makes you so sure I'm worth the time and the bolts?" he asked, now suspicious of the handsome Lombax's attention.

Varick offered another smile, but this one was full of humor, "The school keeps very detailed records on all of its prospective students and much of that information is made available to their prospective mentors. Usually, that's enough for anyone to choose a mentee. I, however, like to be a little more thorough with such things. Luckily there was more than enough information on the holo-net about you. Especially in the Praetorian Guard's criminal records databanks."

Kaden groaned audibly and rolled his eyes. 

At the sight of his reaction, Varick laughed with genuine amusement, "Anyway, let's just say that there was more than enough information for me, and several others, to know that you were guaranteed to make quite a few waves here at Nova. Waves of all kinds I'm sure, so, on that note, let me be clear, Dean Tor'doran is very serious about the Velocity Inducer, but don't worry, the security team hasn't failed to catch a student yet." Varick's assurance didn't make Kaden feel much better. "Besides, you've already proven my suspicions correct," he continued, now wearing a mischievous grin. Kaden didn't think he liked this smile. He raised an eyebrow quizzically and Varick leaned in close to his ear, "Hacking the Honeymoon Suite? I'm surprised a fuzzy even knew it existed."

Kaden caught his breath and a sudden fear ran through his mind, "Does the Dean know?" he asked as he realized how close in proximity these words were to Varick's previous warning about the punishment.

Varick's smile brightened even more, which surprised Kaden that it could, "I never assume Tor'doran doesn't know about something, that's a sure way to lose some fur, but I can tell you that if she was planning on punishing you this time... you would likely have known it before you made it three steps off the train. I know about your activities myself, because I was watching through the trains monitoring system. I like to keep tabs on my investments you see. You learn all kinds of interesting things when you're observant. By the way, who's that attractive young girl you seemed so close to on the way here?"

Kaden's mild sense of concern evaporated and a spike of annoyance replaced it. He didn't like having someone standing over him so obviously, both metaphorically and literally.

Varick's expression faded and returned with a twitch again, "Interesting," he said with a quizzical expression that studied Kaden's carefully.

"What is?" asked Kaden with the hint of a growl.

"Why, you of course!" exclaimed Varick with a sudden cheerful excitement that caught Kaden off guard. "Oh, this going to be a fun year," he added with glee before turning around and walking toward the square-shaped building. Stopping a few meters away, he turned and called back to Kaden, "Come on, don't stand there with your tail nailed to the ground. We've got to get you settled in," before continuing forward once more.

Kaden watched the unusual Lombax's shrinking form for a moment, before following him to the building. He still couldn’t decide if he liked him or not.

* * *

Varick passed through the square building's entrance where everyone else had gone. From a distance, it had looked like the building didn't even have doors, just a large opening in the front. As he approached, however, Kaden quickly noticed the small, light fluctuations of a low level Atmosfield.

This simple energy barrier prevented things like heat and dirt from passing through while still allowing heavy, solid objects like students to cross the threshold. As Kaden passed through the shield, he could feel his fur being rustled lightly from it. 

After he passed through, a light above him turned green and a computerized voice welcomed him by name to the Science Field Living Quarters. He also caught sight of a second set of field emitters embedded in the surrounding walls. These devices would likely produce a much stronger security barrier in case someone tried to enter the building without permission.

Now that he was inside, Kaden found himself standing on the edge of an expansive lounge area. Seats and chairs filled most of the floor space and large holo-monitors dotted the area, attached to walls or hanging from the ceiling, while displaying various programs. As a side note, there were also several vending machines placed strategically about. 

Here and there students were engaged in various leisure activities like reading holo-books or typing on digi-pads. A small group in the distance was even playing multi-dimensional holo-chess.

Seeing that Kaden had passed the barrier check successfully, Varick began to make his way through the area, "This is the 'Waiting Room'," he explained without slowing his pace. "This is where most students come to relax in-between their classes as it's the only part of the Science Field that's publicly open to most non-Science Field students."

Varick's explanation was simple, but it was all Kaden needed. Most students were required to take courses from all three fields, regardless of which field their focus was. The Military Field handles the various athletic requirements and the art field taught things like literary and social studies. The Science Field obviously took care of analytical studies such as mathematics and physics. This lounge area was little more than a rest stop for students from other fields so they don't have to go all the way back across the academy before their next class.

As Varick walked quickly through the rows of chairs and couches, he exchanged waves with a few of the other students. In fact, he was actually doing it a lot and it seemed like everyone in the building knew him. Kaden had yet to discover if that was just because of Varick's status as Field President, or if the Lombax himself was popular in some way.

When the two of them had reached a row of wall sized holo-screens Varick stopped suddenly, almost causing Kaden to misstep. When he'd regained his balanced he looked up at one of the larger holo-boards as it played an image of two Lombaxes sitting at a news anchor desk.

"That's the 'Solar Flare'," said Varick with a gesture towards the screen. "They're the academy's own news service. It's run by students studying public media in the Art Field, but that's pretty basic for any school. The Solar Flare is the first place anyone goes to see information ranging from student rankings and accomplishments to academy events and sports results. I'm sure your name will be up here eventually. Whether for good or bad, I'm curious to find out."

Kaden got the feeling that he should have been mad at Varick for his comment, but if he was honest with himself, it was something that he too had been wondering.

Varick next turned down a hallway and then quickly entered a large Cafeteria, "This is the main Eating Hall," he said after Kaden had entered behind him. "The name explains itself, I hope. If you want something that isn't on the menu you can make a special order for it, but if they don't have the ingredients on hand you'll have to wait for the kitchen staff to make another supply order and restock their stores. Of course they always feel like making a new order for supplies sooner if they happen to find a few extra bolts in their pockets," Varick added the last part with knowing wink.

The cafeteria seemed normal at first glance, other than how vast the space was. Kaden could see from the stairs in the corners that it even spanned more than one floor. If the next floor up was as big as this one he was sure thousands of Lombaxes could eat comfortably inside and that's not even considering that there might be more than two floors. 

Varick barely gave Kaden time to take it in however, before he quickly turned around once more and left the room before heading down another hallway.

After a short, but brisk walk they stopped at a row of grav-lifts. Varick waved his hand over a panel in the wall and a holo-screen appeared. Floor numbers, followed by short descriptions, were listed on it and Kaden was surprised to see that there were over a hundred of them. He'd never have guessed that the facility was so extensive.

Varick quickly scrolled through the list, searching for a particular floor, when his finger froze over one of the keys, "What am I doing?" he said suddenly in self-reproach. "It's much more efficient if you learn the academy's systems by engaging them directly. Here, give it a go." 

Varick stepped away from the panel, causing the holo-screen to disappear and beckoned Kaden forward.

Kaden copied Varick's actions and waved his own hand over the panel. The holo-screen reappeared as he'd expected, but it was different. The new screen now only showed just over a dozen floors. If he hadn't just seen Varick's screen, he likely would've never known there were more to the building. Confused, he turned to Varick to ask, but his mentor answered the question before he got the chance.

"Your Science Field Rank is currently 'Level one'. As such you only have access to the most basic of school facilities, though some students, like me, could give you temporary access to certain floors if necessary. However, since even you can access the level we're heading to, there's no problem."

Varick indicated the floor he wanted to go to on the holo-screen. Its description said that it was the first level of a shopping area. Kaden pressed its icon and his name flashed across the screen before being replaced by a chronometer and grav-lift indicator. It read '0:00:32 Lift: 3' and began counting down until the time hit zero and the doors on the lift marked '3' opened. 

The two Lombaxes then entered the newly opened grav-lift and an almost identical screen appeared inside. It read Kaden's name and listed Varick as a companion with the time until arrival displayed.

"If this is just the living quarters does that mean there's even more in the other building?" asked Kaden as their lift descended.

Varick shook his head, "The difference between the two buildings is only what you see above ground and slightly below the surface. After about the 8th floor down the two buildings merge into one complex. There are even levels that connect across multiple Fields; you just need the clearance to access them."

After a few seconds, the lift doors opened and Kaden walked out into what, to his astonishment, looked exactly like an average shopping mall in Valmecha. A large sign listed names and specialties of, what Kaden had to guess were, stores within, though he had yet to digest the fact that there was a mall under his school dormitory.

"This,” Varick, began stepping forward with arms raised in clear display of his affection for the area, “is the Science Field's 'Supply Depot!’ Here you will find everything you might need during your new life here at the academy. The top floor, which we're on now, is for more basic supplies. Things like food stuffs, hygiene/medical care, and clothing. The next floor down is for vanity. Mostly entertainment devices like wide display, high definition holo-panels and furniture. The lower you go, the more unique and specialized the items get. As a fuzzy you can't even access the fifth floor, but I give you my word, what's down there is awesome!"

"Hold on," Kaden interrupted. Varick halted his bravados explanation and lowered his arms to look back. "There is a mall under the dormitory?" Kaden asked, still in amazement.

Varick shook his head in mild disappointment, "Come now Kaden, have more of an open mind. We all live in a mountain, miles from any form of technologically advanced civilization. Of course there's a mall here. There's one in each of the other Fields as well; though the Military Field calls theirs 'The Armory' and the Art Field changes the name of theirs on a whim. I think they call it 'The Bazaar' at the moment."

Kaden nodded in acceptance of Varick's words and walked forward into the main area. All around him were vendors, manned mostly by androids. 

Even if it was a mall, he was surprised by the variety and color of the place. He would have assumed that anything run by an academic institution would only offer the bare minimal of necessity for efficiency's sake.

"Does the academy operate all of this?" Kaden asked curiously.

"Nope," Varick declared with a hint pride. "Every store here is owned and operated by at least one Lombax at the Academy. Any of the quality stores are run by high level business students, but there are no rules about who can do what, so long as they have the bolts to rent the floor space."

The two of them toured the mall long enough for Kaden to get a good understanding of its layout. Varick pointed out specific stores he liked and talked about a few of the owners that he knew personally, though by the end Kaden got the feeling Varick knew everyone personally. 

Eventually, they stopped to have something to eat at a food court. "So, what's on the lower levels?" asked Kaden between mouthfuls of his Norig burger with two layers of bacon and extra cheese.

Kaden’s eating habits were a pet peeve of Sorana's. He had briefly worried that living at the same school would mean that she'd finally make good on her promise to force a healthier diet on him, but after seeing the vastness of Nova Academy so far he was feeling much safer.

"Like I said before, it's all specialty items down there," replied Varick as he sipped his own smoothie. "If you need something like materials for an experiment, that's where you'd go. If they don't have it in stock there will definitely be someone who can get if for you. At least, so long as..."

"...so long as you have the bolts." interrupted Kaden, finishing Varick's sentence for him. He had finally noticed the obvious pattern to life here at Nova, or at least in the Science Field.

"Good," nodded Varick pleasantly and without missing a drop of his enthusiasm. "You've already learned the second law of Nova Academy."

"Second?" wondered Kaden. "What was the first?"

Varick looked at his smoothie and didn't reply right away, "Don't ever cross Dean Tor'doran," he said finally. There was a faraway look in his eye for a brief moment before he looked back up at Kaden a second later, "But you'll probably learn that on your own soon enough, I'm sure," he continued, snapping back to his cheerful mood and checking the large chronometer on the wall. "Come on. We've still got to get you a room. I'm sure the line for room purchasing has dwindled by now, so back to the first floor we go."

They disposed of their garbage by tossing it toward a gravity well in the center of the court. There it was caught by the gravitational field of an artificial black hole in the ground and was crushed into a singularity. 

After reaching the grav-lifts again, Kaden was tasked with working the controls once more and selected the level that read: 'Main Lobby'. A few seconds later the lift doors opened to a familiarly extensive hallway on the ground floor.

Varick immediately set out from the lift, back tracking their way through the lounge area in almost its entirety, before veering off and stopping at a random doorway that had a red neon outline. 

Once there, Varick explained to Kaden how every year all the elders and their fuzzy protégés formed a massive line in front of this door just after the introduction ceremony. He also mentioned that he never understood why they all rushed to it at the same time. Kaden was grateful for Varick's foresight since he hated waiting in lines and didn't have another stink-bomb on him. 

After a short wait, the red outline around the doorway turned green and the doors slid open, allowing the pair of Lombaxes who'd been inside to leave. It was clear from looking at them that one was a new student and the other, their elder mentor.

Varick gave Kaden a nod and the two of them walked into the now empty room. The room's inside was a perfect square with white walls that were crossed by black lines that ran parallel and perpendicular to the floor. Kaden immediately recognized the pattern and material of the room as a hologram room.

The door slid shut behind them and Varick quickly began taping various icons on a holo-screen attached to the wall. Shortly after, the room started to shimmer with various colored lights before reconstituting into a holographic representation of a small bedroom.

"This is where you choose and purchase living spaces and workshops, but the latter you won't have to worry about for a while," explained Varick. "There are dozens of options for all kinds of situations. I call this one here 'The Impoverished Loner'. It's the cheapest single room available."

Kaden looked around. It was very small and the only furniture was a small, one-person sleeping pod and a one-piece work desk. To Kaden it looked perfect, as he was quite comfortable in small spaces. He'd likely only ever use the room to sleep in anyway, so what did he care if it was little more than a bed in a closet? 

Just to be sure though, he flipped through all the cheapest rooms in the holo-index, but ended up picking the 'Impoverished Loner' anyway. The only option more economical than this choice would require him to get a roommate and Kaden definitely didn't want that. 

The name it had been given by his mentor still irked him and he began to wonder if Varick had known which room he'd pick and came up with the name solely to annoy him. It seemed likely.

Kaden finished purchasing the room and was about to leave when he noticed Varick had held back to type a few more things into the holo-panel on the wall. Kaden waited for him to exit and then take the lead once more, before following him again.

For the next hour or so, Kaden was taken all around the rest of the building. Kaden was shown the virtual library hub, more lounge and eating areas, various communal bathrooms, small exercise rooms, a medical suite, and the teleporter hub. Here and there they could see similar elder/fuzzy activities being performed as all of the new students were acclimated to the Field areas. 

Varick also explained the dorm rules, which were very ordinary: No noise after a certain hour, no teleporter activity after the same hour, no artificial quantum singularities outside of designated areas, no molecular ionization of the atmosphere indoors, no mixed gender roommates, etc. All of it was pretty standard for a school living quarters. That was, until they reached Varick's room.

They both rode the grav-lifts to the top of the living quarters building and walked out into a long hallway with a few doors that were widely spread out. Varick stopped at the third one down and held up his hand. The door pulsed with green light a few times before beeping and sliding open. Varick entered the room and told Kaden to come in and make himself comfortable.

As Kaden stepped over the threshold, he had to fight the strong urge to gawk at what he saw. The inside of the room was like something you'd see in a luxury Hotel. It had a full kitchen, living room, a separate bedroom, and its own bathroom (with Jacuzzi). Plus there was an amazing view off the edge of Mt. Supernova and the setting sun in the distance. Kaden could hardly believe this room existed for a student.

"Like it?" asked Varick from the Kitchen. "Nova Academy makes sure that being the best of the best is well rewarded." This sentence was finished with a self-satisfied smile from the Science Field's president.

"You said there were very few rules about how to get bolts right?" Kaden asked with a specific thought in mind.

"Yes I did, and I know what you're thinking. It's half true I guess," Varick answered as he pulled a jug from his refrigeration unit and placed it on a cooking station. After typing in a number on the station's panel there was a quick succession of clicking noises. He then lifted the jug back up and brought it to the table that Kaden was sitting at.

"No, getting bolts from your parents is not against school rules. Yes, I do come from a very wealthy family. No, my parents' money did not buy me this room. I earned my home and title of president with my own hard work and dedication. I can't take all the credit though, since I did live out my time as a fuzzy on my parent's wallet."

Kaden took a moment to consider Varick's words. He hadn't expected his mentor to consider himself a hard worker earnestly. Perhaps it was because of the politician feel he got from him.

"So how exactly does the 'level' system work?" Kaden asked next, changing the subject.

Varick sat down at the table Kaden was at and his tiny robot appeared with two cups almost immediately. It laid them both on the table in front of its master and Varick poured steaming blue liquid into each cup before passing one to Kaden.

"There are ten levels in the academy's grading system. They're like any ordinary school's grade levels except they're not dependent on age or years of attendance. You simply have to prove that you're worthy of being awarded a higher level based on your Field. Essentially, to ‘level up’, you either get all your instructors to give their approval for advancement or get the Dean to like you. My advice is to assume that the latter is impossible."

Kaden nodded as he took in the information and took a sip of the strange liquid in his cup. To his surprise, it was very sweet. He had expected something a bit more mature and bitter from someone like Varick. What’s more, Kaden found that he actually liked it and drained his cup quickly before accepting Varick's offer for more.

"So you graduate when you become level ten or after you pass it?" Kaden asked.

Varick laughed a little, somewhat harshly in fact, "Nobody ever graduates from Nova Academy, Kaden. They simply reach the limits of their ability to improve," he answered somewhat somberly. "Only a few Lombaxes in history have ever made it to level ten. Most level nine, eight and even level seven students have moved on from Nova. They now live their lives as Lombax society elites in most cases. You never lose your level privileges from Nova and you can come back to study at any point in your life. Most of the elder students choose to go to branch schools, though. The academy even has some on other planets. Think of Nova as a school that gradually becomes a community of the extremely skilled and intelligent."

"So can you stay at any level as long as you like?" was Kaden's next question.

Varick thought about the answer for a moment, "Well, it's very rare that a student wouldn't be able to proceed through the lower levels, but it has happened. Usually if a student is of a low level and they show no signs of improvement the current Dean of the school will expel them. It's not as harsh as it sounds though. You get warnings in advance and if you still can't improve then you simply lose the right to use academy resources, but it doesn't happen very often."

Kadend considered the information, "What level are you, then?”

"I am a level eight,” answered Varick. “I've been one for nearly two years now. My goal is become a level ten eventually, but every level is exponentially harder to achieve than the last. Not that I'm complaining, my current position is in no way unsatisfactory." 

Kaden took another look around the luxurious room and he had to agree, "So then, what are these 'privileges' that come with the levels?"

"Oh they vary from Field to Field and from year to year. There are even some that you're only allowed to know about once you've reached the level required, a few level eight privileges for example," Varick winked as he finished the last sentence. "However, one of the biggest privileges that comes with higher levels is ‘how’ you get to learn. As a fuzzy, you're essentially restricted to a normal school life dedicated to lessons and exams. As you increase your level however, you gain more options."

Varick reached to the center of the table and waved his hand. An image appeared on the glass surface and he scrolled through the pages of icons it showed, pressing one after the other. When he'd finished, a Holographic folder materialized above the middle of the table. Varick then reached for it, taking a hold of it as if it physically existed and and then tossed it to Kaden. The folder glided through the air and stopped just in front its target.

Kaden reached up and took hold of the folder, before flipping it open and taking look at the holo-pages inside. He read through the file for a bit and found that it was full of records about a contract to design and build a research facility on planet Kortog. It listed Varick as one of its architects. 

Kaden looked up at Varick who began to speak after seeing he'd finished reading, "That was one of the first assignments I accepted after rising to level four. It was a little menial to be honest. The hall of knowledge is surrounded by research facilities so there was already a standard in place for its design." Varick stared off as he recalled the memory. "Of course, no Lombax worth his stripes would make anything 'standard'. I even laser carved my name in the final girder placed on the frame." Varick grinned at the thought. 

Kaden dropped the folder and it pixelated away before Varick continued, "Nova academy grants its students the ability to go out into the galaxy and get real life experience in their fields of study. They use your performance on these tasks the same way they use the grades you'd receive if you had simply gone to class. While the experience and academic credits are nice, the best part of doing this kind of work is the bolts. Almost anyone can commission the school for almost any kind of contract. They pay the student's well even after the percentage that the Academy takes out for handling fees. Most of these contracts come from the Fastoonian government and private Lombax corporations, but there are plenty of extra-planetary ones too. Contractors who'd like a little Lombax strength and ingenuity on their side." Varick said proudly.

"You mean people pay well to have inexperienced students work for them?" asked Kaden, somewhat in disbelief.

Varick nodded his head with a smile, "Remember, Kaden, Nova Academy requires students to be above average just to enter. A student contracted here is likely to be just as skilled as a professional anywhere else, just without firsthand experience. It's also likely to be cheaper for a company to employ temporary Nova students than to keep their own standing faculty. Plus, there is a long list of different kinds of contracts available for students to choose from. Here, have a look." 

Varick began tapping out a series of icons on the table-screen again before sliding the screen over to Kaden with a flick of his wrist.

Kaden looked down at the embedded table screen and saw that it displayed several rows of contract categories organized by Field association. Kaden opened a random list for the Military Field and read the first one. It was titled 'Merchant Fleet Escort' with a picture of a typical Markazian merchant, cargo ship underneath. 

The description at the bottom explained that its owner wanted to hire Lombax soldiers to defend their ship while on cargo runs in the nearby Vorex Nebula. It also contained contract details about the length of the journeys and the pay. The soldiers got paid a small sum for standing guard and huge reward if the vessel was attacked and protected properly.

When he finished reading the contract description Varick explained the application process, "As a student, you simply make a request for permission to take on one of the contracts listed there and academy officials review and approve or reject you for it. That being said, level two and three students can only accept a contract if they are specifically requested for them by the employer and level one students can't accept contracts period. Keep in mind though, that any student that Nova grants permission to will then represent the academy itself by their performance, so students are judged harshly."

Kaden tapped his chin thoughtfully as he processed the information and flipped through more contract listings, "So I have to wait until I'm a level four and then I can go on any of these jobs?" Kaden asked. He liked the sound of the whole 'contract education' concept. This way he'd be able to do almost anything he wanted and still get school credits for it.

"So long as you're approved by the academy you can, but ‘you’ won't have to wait until you're a level four. You'll receive plenty of jobs from the Science Field when you're a level two, I'll make sure of that," said Varick happily. "However, I can see by your class requests that you're seeking proficiency in the Military Field as well. If you want to receive any contracts from the Military Field, you'll have to prove yourself in the tournament to make your name known."

Kaden furrowed his brow and looked at Varick in confusion, "What tournament?" he asked.

Varick looked up with an expression like he suddenly remembered something important, "Of course!" he exclaimed. "I knew I was forgetting something. Yes, the tournament. Every year, Nova Academy hosts a tournament to test the mettle of the new fuzzies and to re-evaluate the low level students. Varick repeated the process of retrieving a holo-document and once again tossed it to Kaden, "These are the official rules and dates of the tournament. All students of level one and two who are enrolled in at least one Military Field class can choose to join. You'll be pitted against your fellow students in an open field combat zone and be rewarded for your success. Literally, you get paid bolts for scoring high."

Kaden looked at the holo-file then looked back up at Varick, "But I've only just started here. The academy makes brand new students fight current students just after arriving?" Kaden had expected to fight at some point in the year, it was the Military Field after all, but nowhere near this soon.

Varick nodded his understanding, "Yes, there have been a few concerns about the policy in the past, but the tournament tradition has stood firm. It has proven to be the best way of showing the elders your abilities first hand." Varick paused and the corners of his mouth bent a little. "That... and it serves to knock new students down a peg or two. Everyone who is accepted into Nova must be exceptionally skilled and this usually means they're exceptionally arrogant as well. In most cases this happens because no one in their community is at their skill level. An all-out, free-for-all battle against Lombaxes of equal or greater skill usually puts a stop to that kind of nonsense almost as effectively as a non-visible spectrum defense shield stops a speeding hoverbiker."

Kaden nodded his understanding and pushed the holo-file of the tournament he was holding into his chest, causing it to vaporize. Each dot of light then winked out of existence in quick succession as the file was downloaded to his NID.

"That's most of the basics I think." Varick began again. "Do you have any other questions?"

Kaden thought about it for a second. He was pretty clear on the school so far and he was sure that he'd pick up anything else he needed to know rather quickly, but there was one thing that had been weighing on his mind for a while now.

"Why is there a Red Lombax attending Nova?" Kaden asked with straightforward resolve. 

Varick's face put on an expression that said this was probably the one subject he didn't want to answer questions about.

After a few seconds of thought, however, the President let out a sigh and spoke, "Kor Vol'terran," he said, somewhat reluctantly. "That’s the name of Nova's Academy's own living legend. From what I've been told, he's the son of the Red Lombax people's leader. He's also somewhat of a special case, but the dean wouldn't elaborate much further. To be honest, I was probably as surprised as you when she first told the three Field heads about a Red Lombax joining us. Until then I had thought they were just an old story that's been passed down for generations."

Varick paused for another while and thought about his words a bit more, "I'm not even sure I'm allowed to tell you this, but the Dean never said we couldn't so here it goes: The Red Lombaxes live on the island of Magnaron, where the harsh environment has hardened them into some extremely tough warriors. Apparently they were discovered shortly before the Great War by the members of some project that wanted to harvest the interference-radiation for the war. Due to their natural skill in combat, a new project was born with the hope of militarizing them and training them to fight with the modern weapons of the era. As far as the legend is concerned, it worked. The Red Lombaxes were a key part in the victory over the Cragmites, but for some reason, one which the dean wouldn't explain, after the war the Red Lombaxes returned to their island and shunned outside contact. In honor of their accomplishments and service during the war, the Council of Elders granted the wishes of their leaders and kept their existence officially a secret."

This was a lot for Kaden to take in. Until now he'd half thought that the Red Lombax he'd seen earlier was just some sort of joke. Now, he essentially just learned that his childhood heroes were real. At least the basic idea anyway, he seriously doubted that The Crimson Commander from the holo-show he loved as a babe was real, though a small part of Kaden's mind still held out hope that he might be.

Kaden pushed the unprocessed information back into his mind so that he could ask another question, "I'm surprised anyone can live on Magnaron. The Quasar express had trouble just picking up a single person from there."

Varick nodded knowingly at Kaden's words. "It hasn't come without its costs. The Dean has informed us, me and the other two heads, that Kor will be granted permission to wear his armor at all times during his attendance at Nova. After all the years of evolution on Magnaron, the Red Lombax people have an extreme sensitivity to light, so Kor will have to wear eye protection from even mild photonic levels. Probably worse though, is that their race has also suffered diminished lung function as a result of the toxic environment. As such, Kor can't even breathe the air like a normal Lombax and will require some form of a filtered breathing apparatus at all times. It's a little sad, really."

Kaden took a moment to digest that information. It explained why Kor had continued to wear his goggles and mask even after getting off the train. The young Lombax felt a sense of relief to finally get a few answers for the mountains of questions that had been piling up in his brain. 

However, he still needed to know more, "But why is a Red Lombax coming out now? And why Nova Academy?"

Varick shrugged, "Apparently, ever since Nova Academy was founded it's had an open invitation for any Red Lombax student to join as a way of reaching out to their isolated culture, should they ever want to attempt to rejoin modern society. It seems that Mr. Vol'terran was a 'special case' and his people have finally decided to take the offer. Unfortunately that's all I know so let's end this subject. Now... anything about the ‘academy’ to ask?"

* * *

Kaden and Varick had continued their conversation about other topics for some time until Varick's robot buzzed and showed him something on a holo-screen, "Well, it's that time already," said Varick, after reading the holo-screen. "I have an appointment with some friends soon, so I guess we'll end things here for now." Varick stood up and Kaden followed suit. "Look over those rules and make plans now. The tournament is in a couple of weeks. I'll come see you tomorrow for your first official day at Nova, so you're free until then. I trust you can find your way back to your room?" 

Kaden nodded and walked to the door. He then left after shaking Varick's hand and bidding him a farewell.

As Kaden waited for the grav-lift to arrive the gears of his mind spun violently, eager to chew up and process the vast amounts of information it had received today. He wasn't even sure what was harder to swallow, the entirety of how vast and beyond expectation Nova academy was or the whole ‘Kor, the Red Lombax’ thing. 

Kaden planned on getting to his room and unpacking quickly so that he could get a good night's sleep to help him process, but he also knew that he'd probably be up all night going through every file in the Nova Academy's database that he'd just been given access to.

Breaking him from his mental quagmire, the lift doors split open and revealed two other Lombaxes standing on the platform. The one on Kaden's left was a very large, tan-furred Lombax with dark brown stripes. He had big, golden eyes that spoke of more intelligence than his muscles would suggest and he wore combat armor. He definitely belonged to the Military Field. 

The other was a tall, brown-furred Lombax. Her eyes were orange, but that wasn't a natural color for a Lomax; she must have done something to alter them artificially. She wore a bright red dress and was weighed down with so much jewelry of so many odd shapes and sizes that it made Kaden's eyes hurt. The sense of illogical confusion that he was feeling told Kaden that she was from the Art Field.

They both largely ignored Kaden, though, and brushed past him towards Varick's door. The large Lombax waved his hand over the holo-lock pad, which activated the doorbell. The door opened a few seconds later and Varick welcomed them in. Kaden watched them disappear before finally entering the grav-lift himself, keying in his destination, and setting off on his way. He didn't give the two Lombaxes a second thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Varick Adjunaris - is the president of the Science Field. He gets his last name ‘Adjunaris’ from the world ‘adjudicate’ which means to make decisions or judge.


	10. Start of the Term

"Are you sure?" Kaden whispered gently in Sorana's ear, as he held her hand and slid closer to her on the seat.

Slowly, Sorana raised her head and looked up into Kaden's eyes, but said nothing. She didn't have to. It was just the two of them sitting together on the Quasar Express. They had been viewing the scenery together, but now the only thing they could see was each other.

Sorana leaned closer to him and Kaden brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, making sure to leave his hand on the back of her head. They both closed their eyes and leaned even closer, so close that Kaden could feel her breath. It was warm and gentle, and it made the fur on his cheek stand up in excitement.

Swallowing in anticipation, Kaden tilted his head forward just an inch more, but just before he made contact, he felt Sorana pull away. He opened his eyes and looked at her in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned that he'd done something he shouldn't have.

Sorana looked Kaden straight in the eye and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Kaden tried to tilt his ear closer as if she were whispering.

The wail of a barge horn then erupted from Sorana's open mouth and split Kaden's eardrums like a knife!

* * *

Kaden slammed his face into the side of his sleeping capsule with tooth-rattling force, before rolling back onto his bed again. His head was spinning from the sudden impact as he looked up through half-closed eyes at the smirking white Lombax standing in his doorway. The man was holding an object that was emitting a harsh and grating wail. 

Kaden's situation soon became clear to him and he relaxed his tensed muscles slowly while closing his eyes again. As he did so, he couldn't shake the strong feeling that he had been having a very good dream. He tried to recall what it was about, but try as he might the blurry image in his mind melted away and was gone.

Giving up on his dream, he instead refocused his attention on the reason he lost it, "You know, Varick," Kaden began without opening his eyes, "if you want me to be your 'ally' in the future, it would probably be best to avoid doing things that would make me your enemy."

Varick let go of the metal orb in his hand. It stopped mid-fall in the air and withdrew its sonic emitter. It then hovered back up to just above Varick's right shoulder.

"Of course!" replied Varick in a very loud tone that implied he was thoroughly enjoying his morning. "But, what about this action?" Varick reached over to the touch panel in the wall and hit a series of icons on it. 

A second later, Kaden's sleeping capsule flipped on its side, catapulting its occupant from it and onto the floor. Next, the sheets, blanket and pillow flashed with electricity and flew back into a perfectly made state. The capsule then collapsed itself lengthwise until it was half its original size before sliding snugly into the corner.

"I didn't know... about that feature," mumbled the unmoving Lombax on the floor with his eyes still closed.

Varick nodded as he replied, "Yes, it was one of my inventions from my early years at the academy. It's an upgraded form of the standard sleeping capsules and I designed it to conserve room space. I had two models and, surprisingly, the one that was very hard, and dangerous, to remove once installed didn't sell too well. Fortunately for you, that meant I had some extras lying around. Consider it a room warming gift from me to you."

"I wonder who enjoys the gift more, the giver or the receiver," yawned the furry lump on the floor as it curled into a ball in an attempt to regain some of its lost comfort.

Varick studied Kaden for a short while before speaking again, "Anyway, I came down here to invite you to breakfast, but don't worry, there's no rush, so come on up whenever you feel like it," he said cheerfully. He then turned to walk away, but paused a step away, looked back into the room and said, "Oh, and welcome to your first day as a student of Nova Academy."

* * *

Kaden walked into the cafeteria on the main floor of the dormitory building about half an hour after his little wake up call. He had thought about staying longer just to spite Varick, but decided it would be more wasteful of his own time than his mentor's.

The giant room was mostly filled with Science Field students eating breakfast, but it was clear by their apparel that some of the occupants were from one of the other two Fields. 

Most people were in groups, eating their meal while chatting or playing holo-games. Some sat alone and ate in a hurry, shoveling various foodstuffs into their mouth and swallowing without chewing before bolting from the room seconds later. Others were writing on digi-pads, typing out sentences and paragraphs in between mouthfuls.

As Kaden scanned the room, he finally spotted Varick at a far table with a group of Science Field students, spending more time talking or writing than actually eating. As Kaden approached, however, Varick stopped what he was doing to give him a cheerful wave and shooed away the Lombax sitting in the seat next him. He then gestured for Kaden to sit in the recently vacated spot.

"First things first," the president began in his usual cheerful manner, "order some breakfast then we'll get to your schedule for today." Varick nodded toward the table which Kaden could see was of a similar electro-sensitive touch material that Varick's dining room table had been.

Seeing that Kaden recognized the system, Varick turned his attention to the Lombax on his other side, and began to converse about something to do with committee budgets.

Kaden sat down with a yawn before rubbing his eyes whilst tapping twice on the transparent table. A menu image appeared from where his finger had touched the table and he quickly tapped the icons for his favorite breakfast juice plus an order of toast with some jelly sides. He had never been a big breakfast person, seeing as he was usually still asleep by the time breakfast was over.

Varick took a moment to glance at Kaden's selection, "Not a big eater?" he asked. "That's a shame."

"And why is that?" replied Kaden, his finger hovering over the 'Submit Order' button.

"Because, since it's your first full day here at the academy, I figured I'd treat you to breakfast. Also, let's call it a peace-offering for this morning," explained Varick with his usual, friendly smile.

Kaden studied Varick's disarmingly cheerful features carefully before finally deciding to accept the offer.

He pressed the 'Cancel' button on the bottom of his menu and started the process again, this time choosing a simple, breakfast style meal with extra bacon and sausage. He'd briefly thought of trying to order something extravagantly expensive from the menu, but stopped himself. He felt that doing something petty like that was beneath him. Besides, the overall fact of the matter was that Varick had generously offered him a free meal.

A few moments later, Kaden finished the order and when Varick saw that he was done, he reached over and tapped the 'Submit Order' icon. Varick's name flashed over the menu as the system recognized the finger that had pressed it before the whole menu disappeared. Varrick then tapped a few times on the table area in front of him, which caused another image to appear. He looked it over once before sliding it over to Kaden.

Kaden looked down at the image, finding it to be a schedule that listed class names, their locations, and their times for the next several days with Kaden's name written across the top of it. Kaden had planned on accessing the database to get the schedule later, but since Varick had already gotten it for him, he simply had to save a copy to his NID. He then closed the image as a serverbot floated down and placed his meal on the table.

Once Kaden had settled into eating, Varick cleared his throat to speak, "Now, the first few days of classes are always simple for new students here," He began informatively. "Just go around to the designated room at the designated time and meet your instructors and fellow classmates. There you'll learn about what is required of you to pass that class. They'll also give you the times for their lectures, contact information for the class and security clearance to access class resources on the database if necessary." Varick then turned to his own plate of sausage and eggs, seemingly finished with his explanation.

"Is that it?" asked Kaden, somewhat surprised at how simple it was.

"Did you need something else?" asked Varick looking back up.

Kaden shook his head, "No, it's just, you came all the way down to my dorm to wake me up and invite me to breakfast and you just give me my schedule? I expected there to be something I couldn't have figured out from the student handbook on the Nova server."

Slowly, a grin began to spread across Varick's face. It seemed somehow different than his usual smile, though, it was almost mischievous, "Well, I wanted to buy you breakfast. It's a big day for you after all and the key to having a good semester here at Nova is to start it in a good way."

Kaden furrowed his brow thoughtfully, but was still sleepy enough to accept Varick's answer at face value. He returned his attention to his plate and was spreading a green colored jelly on his toast, when he noticed a pair of students staring in his direction out of the corner of his eye. 

When he looked up at them, however, they quickly turned away and returned to their food. This wasn't the first time since he'd gotten here that he'd noticed an odd stare in his direction.

"Is it odd that the President has breakfast in the public cafeteria?" Kaden asked after catching the seventh person in a row trying to sneak a peak in his direction.

Varick turned his attention back to Kaden as he answered, "Why, not at all. I have breakfast here almost every day," he replied.

"So then why do you keep getting stared at?" Kaden asked as he glanced around the room once more, forcing yet another group of onlookers to shift their gaze.

Varick's grin came back and was even wider this time. Kaden was starting to hate that grin. It gave him a bad feeling, "I don't believe anyone is staring at me, Kaden. If anyone is looking this way suspiciously, then they're probably trying to get a good look at you."

Kaden raised his brow again in confusion, "And why would anyone want a look at me?"

Varick's smile didn't fade as he pretended to think about the question, "My guess is that they're trying to figure out what makes you so special."

"What do you mean ‘special’?" Kaden questioned, as the bad feeling he had grew stronger.

Varick shrugged, "Well not anyone gets to sit with the President of the Science Field. Especially not some hot-off-the-train fuzzy. It's obvious that anyone would be curious as to why that is."

"But that's because you're my mentor," Kaden countered, still confused.

Varick nodded his agreement, "Yes, that's true, but then, why would the President, who has plenty of bolts and other responsibilities, take on a fuzzy underling? Even go so far as to invite said fuzzy to sit in on the president's morning meeting and buy them breakfast. Such special attention to a newcomer is bound to make most people curious and even a few of them… jealous." As he spoke the last word of his sentence, Varick's mischievous grin managed to widen so much that Kaden was worried it would break the boundaries of his face.

Somewhat flustered, Kaden continued his questioning, "Then why would you invite me up here if you knew…" but then he paused while studying the grinning Lombax in front of him… "Why would you ‘want’ people to be jealous of me?" he corrected his question, in a much more calm tone.

Varick gave a small laugh and took a sip of his drink casually, "Kaden, as the president of Nova Academy’s Science Field, it is my duty to help every other student here fulfill the great potential that brought them here. Even though jealousy can cause cooperation problems, my task is to improve the individual. If other students are jealous of you then they will attempt to improve themselves and surpass you. It's a great motivator."

Kaden wasn't surprised that Varick was the kind of person to pull this sort of thing. He was, however, angered by one detail, "But don't people tend to do things to bring down people their jealous of as much as raise themselves up?" he demanded, fearing that Varick knew this already too.

"Of course! That is why it's so perfect!" exclaimed the president excitedly. He seemed almost happy to be able to explain his scheme. "You see, Kaden, I knew from the moment I saw your file that you could walk right through this school. You could pass all your classes, make plenty of connections with colleagues, earn plenty of bolts and live comfortably here until you're a level eight with honors and you would never truly have worked for any of it. However, as the president it is my responsibility to make sure students reach their ‘full’ potential. Now that you will have to contend with the desires of everyone else trying to pull you down, you will have to improve yourself all that much more just to stay afloat." A self-satisfied grin now shone brightly on Varick's face as he chuckled at the astonishment in Kaden's eyes.

Kaden said nothing as he looked down at the almost finished meal in front of him and thought deeply about how much his 'free' breakfast had cost him. Finally, he sighed and shrugged indifferently before stuffing the rest in his mouth and washing it down with juice. 

He then stood up, thanked Varick for the meal with as much sarcasm as he could fit into a five word sentence and walked away. He wasn't happy about the whole painting a target on his back thing, but the more he thought about it, the less he cared. He doubted anyone who had time to be jealous of others even had the skill to warrant his attention.

* * *

The first few days of school passed by Kaden uneventfully. He arrived at each appointment and met with his instructors, the majority of which were elder students of higher levels, without any kind of issues arising. 

In fact, it was almost boring. Being a new student meant that Kaden had to go through the basic of the basics. Just like Varick had said, he would have no problem passing all of these classes. Kaden wondered to himself what kind of person had trouble understanding such basic things like subatomic particle interaction properties..

As he followed his schedule he found, to his immense relief, that most of his classes didn't even require attendance. Each instructor gave him access to their personal databases and sub-servers. From there he could retrieve and submit assignments easily. 

So long as his work was completed correctly and submitted on time, he was almost free to do whatever he wanted. Of course, his Military Field classes required him to be present for all of them since they were physically based, but they still operated on a fitness test system, which allowed him to skip much of the practice, so long as he passed the practical exams.

Even though there had been no issues up to this point, every now and then Kaden would notice similar, poorly hidden stares in his direction like the ones from his morning with Varick. His first thought was to foil his mentor's insidious plans by introducing himself and making peace early, but instead, chose not to. 

It was hard to explain, but every time Kaden suspected that students were plotting his downfall, he got the strong urge to simply crush their plans and prove to them just how far below him they really were. He made a mental note to keep tabs on this urge to prevent himself from becoming too overconfident in his abilities.

* * *

Kaden finished his Small Arms Proficiency class with the fifth highest shooting range score of his level, which included every new student who'd just entered or couldn't advance from last year. 

Instead of feeling satisfied with his score, however, Kaden immediately opened his NID and looked up the four scores that were higher than his. The scores did not have names listed with them, but he recognized the third place score as being Alister’s, which his friend had messaged him about repeatedly. 

The second best score was very close to Alister’s and Kaden made a mental note to bust on the white-furred Lombax for missing second place by so little, despite the fact that he himself had scored lower. 

As for the top score though, Kaden simply shook his head in disbelief as he read it. He was sure that there was no way a level one Military Field student could have scored it. His guess was that the number had been fabricated by school staff just to get students to try harder.

* * *

Kaden blinked several times to clear his eyes as he awoke in his current class. He must have dozed off without realizing it, but who could blame him? His current class was about basic Lombax anatomy, which, besides being basic, was being taught by a student who didn't look much older than them. They also clearly didn't want to be there and didn’t care if anyone was paying attention.

"-and from roughly the ages of eleven to as late as their early-twenties, young Lombaxes will remain in a state of extreme adaptation," she explained in a monotone and bored voice as she read from a digi-pad in time with images that appeared on the large holo-screen behind her. "This is known as one of the keys to the Lombax race's superiority, as it allows each generation a chance to evolve to their environment at a much more rapid rate than almost any other species. During this time, changes can be noted in everything from the subject's physical appearance to their personality. After this 'Teenager' time period is over, a Lombax’s body will continue growing an extra foot or so until they reach their full grown, adult height. Here they will become set in their ways, grouchy, and unable to listen to any new music."

Just as Kaden was about to fall asleep again, an alert sounded in his ear letting him know that the class was ending soon. There was a sudden stir in the classroom as the rest of the students received the same warning.

"Thank the council that's over," declared the brown furred student-instructor, who had been leading the class, as she got up from her chair and tossed her digi-pad aside. "Next class is in one week and I want a two-thousand word report on why females are genetically superior to males from each of you by then."

There was a collective grumble of disbelief and annoyance among that class at the instructor's last words, but Kaden barely registered them as he slid through the lecture hall's entrance and made a beeline for the grav-lifts. 

It was currently his fourth day at Nova and it was almost lunchtime. Earlier that morning he had received a message from Sorana, asking him and Alister to meet her for lunch. Sorana had wanted them both to come to the Art Field's cafeteria, so that's where he was headed now.

* * *

As Kaden began walking down the pathway to the Art Field he heard his name being called from behind him. He turned to find Alister running at him from the Military Field. Kaden waved at him and waited until Alister reached his position, then the two of them walked together down the path to the Art Field.

"You sure you're gonna be ok?" Alister asked with amused concern.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" replied Kaden dismissively.

Alister shrugged and gave Kaden a knowing look, "No reason really, I just know how you get around 'ridiculous and illogical' things, as you put it. I'm just wondering why you agreed to meet in the Art Field."

Kaden returned Alister's look and puffed out his chest, "Hey, I may not like illogical things, but that doesn't mean I can't handle them. Besides, how crazy could the place be? It is a school, after all."

Alister shook his head, "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said with a tone that told Kaden he was getting ready to say 'I told you so'.

Kaden just shook his head. What did Alister expect from him, to keel over in pain at the sight of some tie-dye?

* * *

Alister wore a broad grin after having just said 'I told you so' to Kaden, who was sitting across from him at what was apparently considered a table. His friend was currently lying head down across the table's surface with his ears drooping lifelessly to his head’s sides.

Immediately upon entering the main building of the Art Field Kaden had felt like he'd walked into another dimension. The whole place was one giant festival in worship to nonsense. 

Lombaxes, of more colors than Kaden was sure existed within the visible spectrum of light, danced or floated around on anti-grav, some while singing in groups or alone. Some wore masks, some wore ridiculous robes, and some wore almost nothing at all. The various noises and colors that assaulted Kaden's senses had been enough to make his head spin.

Luckily, Sorana had been able to find them rather quickly (they stood out quite a bit) and even more luckily, she didn't seem to be defying physics with her appearance, though Kaden did notice much more color to her clothes than she normally wore. 

She greeted them both happily, making it was obvious that she had been enjoying her time at the Art Field. She then escorted the two of them to what looked like a giant metal leaf stuck in the ground.

She and Alister had wasted no time taking a seat on what appeared to be tree stumps placed around the leaf table. However, as Kaden tried to sit on a giant mushroom chair at the table, it suddenly sprouted legs and ran away. 

Kaden watched as the mushroom-chair-gremlin-thing dashed off into the crowd and disappeared from view without any reaction. He wasn't even surprised at this point. Sorana was trying hard not to laugh at her friend, as he found another stump like thing and sat on it before laying his head across the table in defeat. This action was immediately followed by the inevitable 'I told you so' from Alister.

(Which brings us back to the present.)

Kaden thought hard about his current situation, as the cold metal leaf cooled his now throbbing head. Slowly, a small flame of defiance sparked to life within his gut. He'd at last decided that he wasn't going to be deterred by the nonsense of others and that no amount of sacrilege to his precious logic would deter him from enjoying his reunion and meal with his friend that he hadn't seen in almost a week… and Alister of course.

Kaden nodded several times to himself, with his face still glued to the table, as he reaffirmed his conviction. Then, just before he could sit up, a robotic monkey landed on the table with a clang and screeched loudly in Kaden's ear. 

The sudden noise made him sit bolt upright and erased every thought of defiance he'd had in the past six seconds. He still he showed no sign of surprise on his face as he looked down at the growling, mechanical primate.

Sorana smiled at the monkeybot before and addressing it directly, "Three please," she said familiarly.

The artificial creature howled again before the noise was replaced with an odd mechanical whirring that came from within it. After a moment, the noise stopped and the monkey robot turned around, released three metal rods from its robotic rear-end, and leapt away. 

Kaden's stone faced expression twitched for a second while Alister tried his hardest not to burst into laughter. Sorana picked up the three rods and gave one to Alister, before offering the one to Kaden. The tan Lombax stared at the rod and mentally debated if now would be a good time to give up on sanity in its entirety. After all... it wasn't doing him any good at the moment.

Finally, Kaden took the rod from Sorana and watched as she tapped the top of hers, which caused a holographic menu to burst from it. Kaden and Alister copied her actions and activated their own menus.

As Kaden read through the list of entries and sides, he realized very quickly that he didn't recognize any of the dishes on listed on it. He'd barely heard of any of their ingredients either, and half of the names were even written in different galactic Languages. 

After reading through what he could twice, Kaden shrugged and simply pressed the icon of some random item that didn't have too many ingredients listed with it, before putting down his menu-rod. His two friends had already finished their orders and Sorana gathered their rods for them. 

With all three in her hands, she stood up from her chair and threw them straight up into the air. Before the objects had even reached the apex of their arc, a group of more robotic monkeys appeared from seemingly nowhere, leaping from ledges in the ceiling support beams, and grabbed them rods, mid-air, with hands and tails before landing on an opposite ledge and disappearing again.

Sorana grinned brightly, "Isn't this place amazing?!" she let out in a mesmerized tone.

Kaden didn't have the heart to verbally bash something she cared about, at least not to her face, so he simply nodded.

After sitting back down, Sorana immediately began to talk about all the wonderful things she had seen since they had split up. Alister joined in with his experiences and after a while even Kaden was comfortable enough to detail his time at Nova so far, though he left out the part of his mentor being the president of his Field. He didn't feel like answering questions about Varick at the moment.

* * *

The three friends were deep in conversation when a group of monkey-bots fell from the sky and landed on their table, each one carrying a variety of plates and drinks. They dropped the meals on the table quickly and then disappeared again.

"I don't think this is supposed to be green," said Kaden as he picked up a fork full of noodles that, besides being green, appeared to move in a way inconsistent with an inanimate object.

"You think that looks bad, you should have seen what I had to eat in my last class," declared Alister, essentially ignoring Kaden's complaint. "I was in Basic Survival and guess what our lesson was on the first day?"

"I'm guessing something about eating disgusting survival food," retorted Kaden in a mildly sarcastic manner.

Alister gave him a look of annoyance, but continued undeterred, "So get this. When I get to the class the instructor takes us to a greenhouse and says: 'Your first assignment is to find one plant in here that is safe to eat. After everyone has chosen a plant, you will then prove its edibility by eating it yourself. I guarantee that none of these plants are deadly, but at least half of them are strong laxatives. You have twenty minutes.' And then he just sits there and waits."

"But you know all about dangerous plants from half the planets in the galaxy," said Kaden. "That should have been easy for you."

Alister nodded and grinned with great self-satisfaction, "It was, but that wicked instructor only put in three plants that were safe to eat, and they were all gross and slimy. He clearly hoped that no one would pick them as a guess if they had to. That isn't the most interesting part though... That red-furred Lombax from the train was in my class, too."

Now Kaden was interested, but surprisingly, not as much as Sorana was, "Really?! Did you meet them? Did you see what their face looked like?" she asked immediately.

Alister looked surprised by her enthusiasm, but overall pleased to suddenly have an attentive audience, "No, he was still wearing that armor. In fact, this time he was wearing the helmet for a G-83 armor set too, so you could see even less of him. He didn't talk to anyone, but the instructor called him Kor."

Sorana looked mildly disappointed, "That's a shame." she said in somber tone. "I wonder what his face looks like… Wait a second. If he was wearing a helmet how'd he eat the plant?" she questioned intently when she realized the paradox.

"I'm getting to that," continued Alister. "The G-83 helmet can open around the mouth to allow sampling without having to remove it. As soon as the teacher gave the instructions, Kor immediately goes around picking leaves and stalks at random, sniffing a few of them and then sometimes sticking them in his mouth . He spat out most of them, but soon he'd selected his plant and took a seat at the front to wait for the time limit to run out. Thing was, though, the plant he'd picked was an extremely powerful, vomit inducing flower from Sargasso. I was surprised his first taste alone didn't make him violently eject everything he'd eaten in the past two days. There were even some kids that copied Kor's pick because they saw him eat some."

"Isn't that cheating?" asked Kaden.

Alister shook his head at the comment in a mock disapproving manner, "Tsk, tsk Kaden. There is no such thing as cheating in a survival situation. It is life or death!" he declared. "Plus, the instructor didn't say we couldn't, so its free game. Anyway, after time was up we were all told to eat what we were holding and less than ten minutes later it was just me, two other students, and Kor left in the greenhouse. Everyone else had to leave as the effects of the plants they ate started kicking in." As he finished his sentence, Alister's faced cracked into a huge grin as he clearly pictured panicked Lombax students, rushing to get to nearest restroom, in his mind.

"Ok, but you said Kor ate the vomiting plant right?" asked Sorana, breaking Alister from his reminiscing.

"Yeah, that's the weird part. The three of us and the instructor all knew what Kor had eaten and we just stood there waiting, but the guy never moved. Eventually the instructor asked him if he was ok and he just nodded. So we were dismissed." Alister finished his story and returned to his food after being vividly reminded of a taste he wanted to forget.

"That's so fascinating," noted Sorana with deep interest. "Red Lombaxes must have pretty strong stomachs. I guess that's what happens when you live in a place like Magnaron. To think that there's a group of Lombaxes that are so unique."

Kaden was beginning to get annoyed by Sorana's interest in Kor, but he didn't really know why. Maybe it was because of the incident on the train, or maybe it was just his current situation. He wondered about the possibilities as he stared darkly at his half-eaten... whatever it was.

* * *

The three friends had finished their meals and headed back outside. Sorana bid the boys farewell before heading off to her next class. Kaden and Alister both had the same class next. It was Wrench Bashing 101, so they headed to the Military Field together.

"I hate having to take these wimpy starter courses," brooded Alister as soon as they were past the main Art Field area. "It's like retaking Pre-Ed. What kind of fool with fur and stripes can't swing a wrench?"

Kaden rolled his eyes. He understood what Alister meant. In fact, he even agreed wholeheartedly with his friend's opinion, but he couldn't see the point in complaining about it, "There's nothing you can do about it. The way I see it, it's like getting a vacation. You don't have to study or practice and you'll pass all your classes while learning about your new school."

"Huh, easy for you to say," replied Alister grumpily, "You've never had to study- what's that sound?"

A low rumbling could be heard from the direction of the Science field. Alister and Kaden both turned to see what was making the noise, along with every other student in the area. They could just make out a purple light emanating from the roof of the round, main building off in the distance. Every so often a bolt of purple lightning would flash outward from it as the rumbling steadily increased in pitch. 

Then, the noise suddenly stopped, but was immediately replaced by an echoing thump!

The sound reached across the field to hit their ears just milliseconds behind a massive discharge of lightning that lit up the still bright sky. Immediately after the flash, Kaden and Alister spotted a Lombax's silhouette hurtling over them at an incredible speed and another second later it was out of sight.

Almost every student in the area turned back to what they were doing as if nothing had happened. Kaden and Alister continued to stare at the sky for a short while before turning back around and walking again. 

After a few seconds of silence Alister spoke first, "Well, at least you'll get a good view of the Academy," he said casually.

"Getting shot out of a velocity inducer for a punishment requires getting caught. It'll never happen," countered Kaden, equally casually.

They both smiled to themselves as they continued to their destination. Kaden may not have been happy, or even able to easily handle everything he'd seen at Nova Academy so far, but he could at least say that this place was interesting.


	11. Prelude

Kaden and Alister arrived at the entrance to an indoor physical training facility. Their next class was supposed to be inside.

They entered through the men's side, which lead to a standard locker room with basic storage units, showers, and a small med-station. They had both already come wearing their basic combat gear, so there was no need for them to get changed this time.

On the other side of the locker room area was the gym portion of the facility. Within it, a small group of students waited quietly while facing a tough looking, brown-furred Lombax with a scar that ran from the top of his left eye to his chin. Kaden and Alister both took a seat on any suitable surface in the room and joined the crowd seamlessly.

They still had a bit to go before the class started, so they took this time to study the room. All around them, they found an ample supply of weights, grav-stations, punching bags, and various other exercise equipment. 

As they continued to study the room, however, they began to notice that something was off about the other students. There was an odd tension in the air, even though the gruff Lombax at the front, who was more than likely the class's instructor, clearly didn't seem to be causing the mood as one might expect. 

What really made the issue stand out was that nobody else seemed to look away from the front of the room. At first glance it had looked like they were watching the instructor, but upon closer inspections it was obvious that everyone simply didn't want to look toward the back of the room.

A sudden feeling of déjà vu tingled in the back of Kaden's mind. The moment he realized where and when he'd felt the awkward sensation before, he spun his head around and faced toward the back of the room to see for himself how similar the situations truly were.

Even though he had half expected it, Kaden was still completely surprised to find a familiar figure almost hiding in the shadow of the room's back corner. It was a Lombax wearing red armor, as they sat motionless. Just as Alister had said, Kor was now wearing his suit's matching helmet as well and was left completely encased in metal.

It took a moment for Kaden to digest the idea that the Red Lombax from the train was here in the same room with him, but after he did so, his mind then had to ask why. 

This question, unlike most that involved the mysterious Lombax, had a simple answer that Kaden realized right away. He turned back around to face the front of the room like everyone else with a slight smile playing on the corners of his lips. He now found himself looking forward to this class.

The class continued to sit in silence for a few more minutes until the grizzled Lombax at the center, who had been closely watching the numbers flip on his gauntlet’s chronometer, began to speak...

"My name is Sergeant Ragnin," he called out in a gruff, raspy voice that matched his exterior. "I will be instructing you all on the fine subject of Wrench Bashing for so long as I deem you incapable of swinging a shaped, inanimate object properly. Today, I'll be evaluating your skill with these standard wrenches..." the Sergeant indicated a weapons cart toward the side of the room that was filled with basic OmniWrenches. "I'll let you use a military grade wrench when I'm sure you won't kill yourselves with it or if I need a good laugh. If you have brought one of your own, however, you’re free to show me what you can do with it." Ragnin looked around at each student one at a time. 

He paused for a second on Kor, but then continued scanning the room, after which he continued speaking, "Since every student in the Military Field has to take this class I have the 'joy' of teaching you some of the basics of the academy's layout. This here is the ‘fuzzy gym’." Ragnin said before spreading his arms to emphasize the room they were in. "It's for level one and two students only. Now, that doesn't mean higher level students can't come in here, it just means that this is the only gym in the Military Field that you short furs are allowed to use. You're allowed access to this facility anytime you want; it's available everyday all day. Personally, I suggest that you each spend as much time in here as you possibly can. You'll need the extra training. Any questions?" he asked before scanning the room for a reaction.

A white-furred Lombax in the middle of room raised her hand, "All my other classes are being taught by students just a few levels above me. Why are you teaching such a low level class?" she asked.

The grizzled instructor smiled, which, rather than seeming friendly, only served to stretch and emphasize the long scar across his face, "That... is an excellent question. There is a very good reason why someone of my esteemed caliber and over qualification is required to teach a bunch of fresh fur balls like yourselves. One of those reasons is simply because Wrench Bashing is a core principle that must be ingrained into you properly. It is the seed that will eventually grow into the tree of wrath and destruction that makes up who you are as a warrior. There can be no flaw in its foundation if you are to truly become worthy of the battlefield." Ragnin then paused for a moment as he scanned the room once more. "Another reason, the one as to why 'I' specifically am teaching this class..."

Before anyone could blink Ragnin leaped toward the wrench cart, snatched up an Omniwrench from it, and flung the weapon towards the entrance. It struck, with a sharp thwack, into the gut of a student. The wrench then ricocheted outward before flying through the air, while spinning rapidly, all the way back into the Sergeant's hand. After the moment of shock and surprise wore off, it became apparent to any observer that the student who had taken the hit had been late to class and had been attempting to sneak into the room without being seen.

Ragnin continued to speak as if nothing had happened, and everyone quickly spun around to refocus on him with much more focus on his words, "When you're a fuzzy at this academy, you are the most likely in your life to make mistakes, break rules, and generally screw up. Beating the failure out of each and every student, one at a time, repeatedly if necessary, is by far my favorite pastime. Are there any other questions then? Yes, you in the armor."

Once again everyone turned in unison, this time to where Kor sat with his hand now raised. When he spoke his voice was filtered through his helmet's speakers. 

Whether it was from age or if that was just how the system had been built, the voice that emanated from the speakers had a rough, metallic tinge to it, "If I am able to demonstrate adequate skill, is it possible to pass this course and move on to one of a higher level immediately?"

There was silence as Ragnin studied the armored student up and down before looking up Kor's name and profile on his gauntlet computer, "Despite this class being called a 'basic course' it is actually very difficult. For you to reach my expectations of 'adequate' you'd have to be able to wield your wrench like it was a part of you."

"Then it is possible," stated Kor flatly in reply. It was hard to tell, but the words did not seem like a question.

Ragnin tapped his fingers on his chin thoughtfully for a few seconds, "Very well then. If you're arrogant enough to believe yourself too good for this class, then I'll tell you this: I can transfer any student I want to a higher level class at any time. I would have even done it without being asked to, but in all my years of training pups at this academy I have only ever met a handful of fuzzies even worth considering bumping up a level. If you can dazzle me with an amazing display of skill, then I'll personally see to it that you're transferred to the Advanced CQWC (Close Quarters Wrench Combat) Tactics and Skills class. That's a level 3 course, so you'd be skipping the rest of the level one and two courses in between, though you won't officially be a level three yet, but that would take quite a show to achieve. Now, do you at least have your own wrench?" Kor nodded in reply. "Then let's go see what you're made of." Ragnin looked around the room at the rest of the class, "All of you."

The instructor then turned around and began walking toward the direct access entrance behind him. He stopped a second later to order the closest student to bring the wrench cart with them. As everyone stood to leave, Kaden took a moment to look over at the Lombax curled up in the fetal position in the entrance way. They groaned with pain and coughed a few times, but it didn't look like they'd be getting up anytime soon, so Kaden and the rest of class simply followed the instructor without him.

Sergeant Ragnin took them out of the gym and down the hall a little ways to a large circular room with doors all around and spectator stands above them, behind a reinforced, glass window. 

Ragnin waited for all of the students to enter before addressing the class, "This is a typical training arena here in Nova’s Military Field. Most are stocked with every kind of state-of-the-art training dummy you could ever want. Now, since Mr. Vol'terran here believes himself a master of the Lombaxes' trademark weapon, I'll let him demonstrate how it's done. The rest of you grab a wrench if you don't have one and get in the stands. You'll get your turn later."

Kaden got in line to grab a wrench. Part of him was getting excited now. He was eager to learn just how skilled Kor was. He was personally hoping that the mysterious Lombax was some incredible warrior like in the legend. That at least would explain the incident on the train without making him feel as stupid about it.

After he'd grabbed a wrench, Kaden moved with the rest of the students toward the exit, where they then entered through another door that would lead up into the stands. Just as he was about to leave the arena though, he glanced back and saw Kor holding his weapon.

Laid across his shoulders, and held balanced by one hand, was the single largest OmniWrench Kaden had ever seen. It was almost as tall as Kor was, from end to tip, and its head was twice as large as an average wrench's. Kaden was just as dumbfounded by the fact that he hadn't seen it up until now as he was to see anyone carrying such a thing.

This was what’s known as a Praetorian Malleus Wrench.

All OmniWrenches were made with an array of internal components. Many have non-military functions such as magnetizers to pull bolts and objects from its surroundings. Kaden had always wanted to get a special modification that turned the kinetic energy from striking the ground into a concussive shockwave of air that would shatter brittle objects in the immediate vicinity of the strike. Almost all wrenches, however, have two standard components.

One is a gravity manipulator, used to lighten its weight so it could be an effective close-quarters weapon. It also allowed an OmniWrench to return like a boomerang to its user after being thrown.

The second component was a micro-kinetic force-multiplier that turned regular strikes, from what was essentially a metal baseball bat, into a crushing force that could break solid steel with ease or even allow the small framed Lombax race to manually turn massive bolt-cranks that operate heavy doors and machinery.

In the case of the Malleus Wrench, the majority of add-on space was used for gravity control units, since its weight makes it essentially useless to the agility based tactics of the Lombaxes. Even with these components, though, it's still a very hard weapon to control. That's why so few soldiers use them today.

_ 'Another relic,' _ thought Kaden as he compared the wrench to Kor's armor. It seemed like Kor must only have had access to old military surplus from The Great War.

Sergeant Ragnin stood alone in the arena with Kor and waited for everyone else to find a seat in the stands, "Alright, we'll start with a soft run through the basics, then you can show me what you've really got. You do know the three basic strike patterns right?" he asked of the red armored student standing beside him.

Kor hefted his Wrench out across his chest, with one hand in its double handguard and the other wrapped around its neck, just underneath the wrench head.

Ragnin took this as a yes, "As for the rest of you," he called to the stands while turning to look up at them. "The three strikes are: The three hit combo 'Multi-strike', the over-the-head 'Hyper-strike', and the long reaching 'Comet-strike'." 

He then turned back to Kor and pressed a button on his gauntlet. As he did, a large door on the opposite side of the room withdrew upward and three robotic sparring droids rolled out of a doorway to stand in a line ahead of Kor. The farthest one was spaced noticeably further away from the second than the second was from the first.

"You are to complete those three attacks in the order I listed them," the instructor continued. With another push of a button, blue shield layers generated around the three androids' figures, "These shields are an advanced kinetic deflector. They can prevent even heavy weapons from damaging the drones. However, if you're not strong enough, they will nullify your attacks completely and then reverberate it back at you. I suggest you put everything you have into your swings, boy, if you don't want to look like a fool that is."

"Ready!" Ragnin shouted before taking several steps back. Kor crouched low and offset his feet in preparation to run. "Begin!"

Kor bolted forward toward the first target like a flash of red light. At the perfectly timed moment he shifted his body almost as if he was falling, before spinning himself like a corkscrew. The massive wrench, pulled along by one hand, followed his spinning movements in a wide orbit around his center of mass, creating a perfect side sweeping swing. 

The wrench head continued its path until it connected with the side of the android. There was a flash of blue light as the shield around the robot flared angrily to reflect force of the attack. This was followed almost immediately by a flash of white light as the shield shattered like glass, allowing the wrench to continue on its path toward the android itself. The robot crumpled inwardly, before being sent flying into the arena wall.

Kor continued forward without breaking his stride and, by the time Kaden had returned his gaze to him from the first shattered droid, he was already in the air. The wrench's head struck the second robot's head; crushing it like a tin can and smashing it down into the android's chest, pushing its metal frame past its limit in an instant and cleaving the robot cleanly in two. The wrench even bit into the arena floor with a spray of concrete.

Less than a blink later, Kor had completed a full 360 degree turn with both hands on wrench's grip. At the perfect moment, he released the oversized weapon and it flew straight as a laser beam toward the center of the final target. 

The wrench’s head ate through the shield layer like it wasn't even there, before sending the android backward and pinning it to the wall behind it.

Kor stood in silence as he studied his handiwork for a few seconds before nodding with apparent satisfaction and walking forward to retrieve his weapon.

The students in the stands were awestruck. Many were stood up straight with their jaws open and eyes wide with disbelief... including Sergeant Ragnin,

"You... but... the shielding... how?" Ragnin fumbled over his words as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. In his confusion he honed in on his number one focus, reprimand. "Your wrench didn't return to you after you threw it. That wasn't a Comet-strike that was just a hammer throw."

Kor ripped his weapon from the wall (and the android's body) before hefting it back onto his shoulders. 

He then turned to reply to Ragnin's words, "My wrench does not contain the necessary components to return after it's thrown. I had the grav-manipulators replaced for extra kinetic multipliers. I was told that it would be acceptable."

Ragnin now looked even more confused, and rightly so. Kaden couldn't believe that anyone could wield a Malleus Wrench that gracefully, even with grav-manipulators, but to do so without their aid was beyond consideration.

"Y-yes... it's allowed, but... wait," Ragnin began again. "You didn't complete the Multi-strike either. You only hit the dummy once."

Kor tilted his head to one side slightly in apparent confusion or possibly curiosity, "The target was clearly disabled. Anyone who would blindly swing twice more at thin air after the target is defeated would be a sorry excuse for a warrior."

"True... but... you," Ragnin continued to stutter as he looked around the room at the smoking heaps of high-level combat droids that had been annihilated in less than two seconds. Then the instructor stopped himself, took a deep, calming breath, and released it. He mumbled to himself, "I hate paperwork," before addressing Kor again. "Kor, you're dismissed for the day. Thank you for your demonstration."

Kor stood straight and placed his wrench vertically to his side and bowed to the sergeant, before returning it to his shoulders and striding out of the arena.

Ragnin watched the armored Lombax go while scratching his head. Those three combat-dummies weren’t supposed to be broken, as no normal wrenches could possibly break their shields. There weren’t anymore at this arena and he didn’t feel like moving the class to a new one.

After Kor was gone, a sudden idea came to the grizzled instructor and he began pressing a few more keys on his gauntlet. Then, the door at the far end of the arena opened again and three more androids entered from it. They were larger than the first and instead of shields, had massive arms that were clearly not meant for target practice alone. 

Ragnin spun around and looked up at the stands with a maniacal half-grin on his face and a twinkle of determination in his eye, "Next!"

* * *

It had been over two Galactic standard weeks since Kaden had first arrived at Nova Academy. Since then he'd become accustomed to the school's layout and daily life. In the recent days he had been seeing less and less of his friend Sorana. This was unfortunate, but inevitable.

As she became more absorbed in the Art Field and focused on its teachings, she had become very busy. Similarly, with the Military Field's tournament coming up, Kaden had also been very busy preparing with Alister, whom he met with almost every day.

The day before the year opening tournament Kaden and Alister spent together making final plans and strategies that they might need. The tournament this year would be held in one of the local forests owned by Nova Academy, so there would be plenty of material and cover for traps.

The both went over the tournament rules again, to be sure they weren't going to break any. It was a very unusual feeling for Kaden.

The tournament's contestants consisted of all level one and level two Military Field students. Every student received a single, metallic I.D. sphere that would magnetically adhere to their armor's chest and shoulder plates. Patrons of the game referred to these I.D. spheres as 'souls'. 

The souls were fairly small. A level one student's soul was just small enough that it could be completely enclosed in Kaden's fist. A level two student's soul was about twice that size. The objective of the game was to take the souls of as many other players as possible before the time limit ran out. When the time was up, all surviving contestants would be awarded bolts for every soul they had and a level two student's soul was worth twice the prize value of a level one's.

Every player's starting soul was also unique to them. There was a specialized magnetic slot that was placed in the center of each student's armor and only their original soul was capable of magnetizing to it. 

If a student’s original soul is taken from its housing, the victims were granted a thirty minute 'last stand' to reclaim it. If the stolen soul is not replaced by the end of the thirty minute grace period, the student would be disqualified from the match and teleported away immediately.

As an added precaution to prevent students from hiding souls in the environment to be collected later, near the end of the match, each soul deactivates and becomes worthless if not re-attached to a new piece of armor within five minutes.

Certain items were prohibited from being used during the match. Mobility vehicles were not allowed, which included the use of hoverboots or hover packs. Both Alister and Kaden were quite upset at this rule as both had been confident that they could out maneuver anyone on hoverboots. 

The rules also prohibited many forms of weapons. All offensive weaponry was required to be non-species morphing, non-mind controlling, non-hairstyle altering and must be lower than a class four lethality to be permitted.

There was no rule against working together so Kaden and Alister had decided to team up during the event itself. Kaden had found out that it was a common tactic, but the downside is that allies have to share their prize. There was also a rule prohibiting two-way communication equipment between two or more participants.

Where participants were placed in the tournament’s active zone at the beginning of the match was to be randomly chosen, so this made meeting up an issue, but Kaden was pretty sure he'd figured out a 'legal' way of locating each other.

And that was about everything of importance. Once their final preparations were complete, both of the Lombaxes went to their living quarters to get a good night's sleep.

* * *

The day of the tournament started out slow for Kaden. Since his schedule had been cleared of classes so that he could participate, he had nothing to do until the tournament itself. The situation was made worse by the fact that he had woken up five hours earlier than he had intended to. 

Kaden never understood why he couldn't sleep when he was so tired. It didn't make sense. Other people might suggest that it was due to nervousness from his upcoming battle, but he knew that couldn't be the case. After all, there was no logic in being nervous.

Kaden attempted to pass the time by reading more articles about previous tournaments, but he had already read and practically memorized all of them. However, after only having gotten a few hours of sleep and being unable to return to it, the young Lombax found that he couldn't even focus on the words.

_ 'This is ridiculous!' _ thought Kaden in frustration. If he couldn't read because he was falling asleep, but also could not actually fall asleep, then he would just have to wake up.

Kaden quickly got dressed into his athletic uniform, grabbed his gym bag, and left his small room. He thought about using one of the exercise rooms in the Science Field, but decided he'd like to take a walk through the cool mountain air. He hoped the brisk temperature would be enough to wake him up, but if not, then he'd just have to practice a few close-quarter moves with an aggressive sparring drone. That would definitely do the trick.

On his walk over the Military Field fitness facility, Kaden didn't see another living thing around (specifically living as maintenance and cleaning bots were a constant traffic around Nova). This made sense considering that the sun was currently on the other side of Fastoon, but thinking about that fact reminded Kaden that he was in a bad mood.

* * *

He arrived at the fuzzy gym and waved his hand over the lock on the entrance. The device beeped in confirmation of his status as a level one Military Field student and the door slid open to the locker room. After depositing his gear into a random locker, Kaden headed into the fitness room. 

At the doorway he was just about to reach for the lights, but stopped when he began to hear some kind of thumping noise coming from the darkness. Kaden listened carefully to the sound. It was like small sets of rapid, but dull thuds separated by short pauses. It didn't follow a repetitive pattern, but it still felt like it had a rhythm to it.

Kaden stared into the darkness, trying to discern what it was. As he did, the thumping suddenly stopped and two green lights flashed brightly in the black void. Something about the lights gave him a strange feeling in his gut and he couldn't help but stare at them.

The green lights were gone a moment later and Kaden, as if broken from a trance, immediately reached for the light switch. He flicked the touch screen's meter to full with his finger and the whole gym was instantly illuminated. 

Kaden looked around in a desperate search for the source of the lights, but the only object in the room of note was an old-fashioned sand bag. It rocked back and forth slowly as Kaden began to feel an overwhelming sense of déjà-vu.

He cautiously walked into the fitness room and continued to scan the area when a slight movement to his side made him jump in surprise. 

Standing near the resting benches was Kor Vol’terran, who wore the same goggles and mask combination that he’d had before, stood facing him with a body language that told Kaden he was ready to fight.

"Your purpose?!" inquired the Lombax in his grainy, filtered voice that emanated from the breathing mask on his face.

Kaden quickly recovered from his surprise and reset his body to match Kor's, "Do I need one?" replied Kaden combatively.

Kor's armored hand curled into a ball and Kaden suddenly became very aware of how alone the two of them were. He also noted that Kor was wearing most of his usual suit of armor. Since this was Kaden's initial and only impression of the Lombax so far he hadn't noticed it at first, but he now realized that it put him at a serious disadvantage were things to become physical.

While still taking account of the situation Kaden finally noticed that Kor's goggles weren't correctly fastened to his face; they had been hastily put on at a crooked angle. Kaden recalled what Varick had told him about Red Lombaxes apparently having sensitive eyes. He realized that he had probably shown up and turned the lights on while the Kor wasn't wearing them.

Acknowledging his mistake, Kaden attempted to apologize, though it was more to defuse the angry, armored Lombax than out of genuine remorse, "I'm sorry about the light. I wasn't aware that anyone was in here."

After a few seconds of silence, the armored Lombax's fist relaxed, "It would seem that you have an abundant ‘lack’ of awareness. You should probably attempt to improve that," he said with a slight shake of his masked head before he moved carefully toward the exit.

Kaden couldn't be sure, because of the artificial voice, but he was fairly certain that Kor had just insulted him. It took him a few moments to be sure that it was in fact an insult, and then it struck him, considering his two interactions with Kor, that the insult had merit.

Kaden tried to retort, but he couldn't think of a reply fast enough, "Well... I... uh," was all that managed to escape Kaden's throat just in time to follow the red Lombax out of the fitness room.

Kaden immediately tried to follow him, he didn't want to end their interaction like that, but Kor was gone by the time Kaden turned the corner. All he found was the locker room, left empty and deserted. 

The young Lombax stood dumbstruck at being made a fool of. Twice, he realized, by the same person. The uninvited memory of the incident on the train came to Kaden's mind. In doing so, he spotted the sandbag again out of the corner of his eye, still swinging lazily back and forth. 

Like a river, the frustration and confusion that had accumulated due to his interactions with Kor Vol'terran flooded into Kaden’s mind. Once again there was nothing he could do to solve the puzzle, so he instead decided to at least take his anger out on something. The angry Lombax spun on his heel and marched toward the small ring that measured off the sandbag's training area with his mind full of rage inducing thoughts and memories.

However, he only managed to take two steps into the ring before being slammed, face first into the floor. His arms, legs, and tail were all pinned flat to the ground and by the time he had realized he was on the floor, he also found that he could no longer move. With intense effort, the restrained Lombax eventually managed to rotate his extremely heavy head on its side while it still spun, internally, from the force of the impact.

A robotic voice issued a warning from somewhere above him, "Facial imprint detected in Grav-training ring floor."

A tiny square of light then appeared just in front of Kaden's face on the semi-clear, polymorphic material that made up the ground he was stuck to. On it was a graphic representation of a dial and a digital scale that read: 'Fastoon Gravity X 5.7'. Kaden slowly tried to move his hand over to the digital dial. He then fought hard to place his finger on its surface and rotate it until the number read "1".

As if suddenly having a boulder removed from his back, Kaden felt the gravity relinquish its hold on him and he took a massive breath as he lost a few hundred pounds of bodyweight.

_ 'What kind of monster trains on 5.7 G's while wearing armor?!' _ Kaden wondered in amazement. Slowly, the decompressed Lombax pushed himself back up off the ground. As he did so, he felt something inside his body snap back to its original position. A few, painful seconds later he was standing up again and he then turned and walked gingerly toward the exit.

He suddenly had the urge to give sleeping another try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I replayed the Ratchet and Clank series for the specific task of writing this story, I made note that when I fought weak enemies that died after one or two hits, I always triple tap the melee button out of reflex and found myself going through the final, long swing of the multi-strike with no enemies around. This is why Kor is so confused at the suggestion of finishing the combo when it was unnecessary.  
>   
> Malleus Wrench - In simple terms, the word ‘Malleus’ is the Latin word for ‘hammer’ or ‘polearm’.


	12. The Tournament Begins

Kaden and Alister stood side by side in a large, square formation of Level One students, each wearing a suit of combat armor. They had assembled in the Military Field's 'Colosseum' and were awaiting the start of the tournament.

Kaden yawned deeply and earned a look of concern from Alister, "You have a rough night?" he inquired.

"No," Kaden replied sleepily, "I had a rough morning. I'll be fine, don't worry about it," he reassured his friend.

Alister shrugged and nodded his acceptance before facing forward again.

They were both wearing standard issue combat armor. Alister's was heavier than Kaden's, but Kaden's had been heavily modified with tons of special features. Their wrenches were also standard issue. 

Despite being a Lombax, Kaden wasn't overly fond of wrench work. He focused his energy on his suit and gadgets, and held his wrench to a much more lax standard of operation. Alister's reasoning for using a standard issue wrench was that he simply worked best with simple equipment. 

Like almost every other Student around them, they both wore backpacks full of supplies as well. Some of Alister's pack even carried some equipment he didn't know how to use. That was Kaden's job.

A small flash movement at the front of the Colosseum pulled every gathered student's attention at once to the stage assembled at the end of the field where a large, familiar, tan-furred Lombax walked out onto it. This was the same person Kaden had seen on his first day at the academy, after leaving Varick's room. The Lombax, he'd since learned, was in fact the 'commander' of the Military Field. Kaden had also found out that the brown-furred Lombax that had been accompanying him was the 'queen' of the Art Field.

Everyone stood to attention as the commander began to speak, "As you all know, today you will begin participation of the Military Student Evaluation Tournament,” he boomed. The head of the Military Field’s voice was loud and powerful, and filled authority. It was similar to Varick’s, but much more controlling, demanding obedience as much as respect. “This year, your area of operation will be the Lotrin Forest, located just north of the Mt. Supernova. You are not allowed to leave the forest area and you will be given only one warning as you approach its borders before you are disqualified. Each of you will be teleported into the forest to a random location and at random time intervals, one by one. The tournament officially begins the second you arrive in the forest. Exactly five galactic standard days later, those of you who remain will be retrieved and rewarded based on your performance."

The commander paused for a moment to let all who were listening digest the information, "You will be monitored at all times by a staff of tournament officials as well as your fellow Nova Academy students who may watch through the academy's private network. They will see your every move, success, and failure through these..." the commander gave a signal by a wave of his hand and a swarm of fist sized floating cameras cascaded up over the stadium walls before hovering to halt above the crowd of students. Kaden studied them closely.

"Any violation of tournament rules will result in your immediate removal and your subsequent punishment, the severity of which will depend on the dean's mood. The Coliseum equipment room has been outfitted for you to receive your tournament gear and also currently houses the shift pads you will be using to enter Lotrin. Each of you will receive a personal tournament I.D. sphere, its armor cradle, a teleporter beacon, and 0.2 liters of liquid Nanotech. If you brought any additional Nanotech personally, it will be added to your current supply. If at any time during the tournament you run out of Nanotech you will be immediately disqualified and teleported away."

The commander paused for a second before standing up straighter and putting his arms behind his back before speaking in a much more formal tone, "I want you all to make the academy proud by demonstrating the strength of its newest generation and that of its youngest members. Good luck to each of you."

Once the commander had finished, the crowd saluted him before silently marching by row out of the arena and towards the equipment rooms. Kaden took this time to verify that the GPS he'd put in Alister's armor was working.

* * *

A few minutes later, Alister and Kaden were waiting in line to a shift pad as student after student walked onto its surface, before disappearing in a flash of blue light.

Kaden looked down at the metal slot on his chest with a small, lightly-glowing orb nestled inside and contemplated how important it was going to be to him in the coming few days.

Alister was up to teleport first. He turned to Kaden and hefted his wrench in a macho pose, "See you on the other side," he said with a grin.

"Try not to lose your soul before I find you, got it?" replied Kaden. The two friends touched forearms before Alister turned and stepped onto the platform.

Kaden watched him disappear like all the others before stepping up to the plate himself. The operator standing by the shiftpad's controls adjusted the equipment to the next set of preloaded coordinates. The pad began to hum with energy and the operator looked up at Kaden. Kaden gave him a nod to show that he was ready and the operator returned the gesture before pressing something on his control console.

The hum of energy grew even louder as the teleporter activated. A moment later, Kaden's world was engulfed in blue light as he felt himself falling for just a millisecond, before abruptly coming to a halt in the middle of a dense forest area.

Kaden looked around cautiously, but there was nothing noteworthy to his surroundings. He then checked his Nav unit for bearings. It took a while for him to readjust it because of the havoc teleporting wreaked on personal positioning technology.

_ 'Eight whole seconds to recalibrate from a simple 150 kilometer jump!' _ thought Kaden unhappily once his location was confirmed. He made a mental note to retune his Nav unit later. 

With his location fixed, Kaden began to study the local geography, noting the nearby streams marked on his map and locations of rough terrain. They'd be important locations for surviving in the woods until the tournament ended. He located Alister's marker, about ten Kilometers south of him.

Kaden nodded his approval of his own plan before getting in a good stretch while some of his detection equipment calibrated itself. When everything was ready, the young Lombax marched off into the woods, heading swiftly, but cautiously, towards Alister's position. The tournament had begun.

* * *

About halfway to Alister's homing beacon, Kaden's acoustic analyzer detected movement beyond the trees just ahead of him. He sighed as he came to a halt and kneeled down to verify the readings and discern the source of the signal. 

This alert marked the eleventh time this had happened since he'd started on his journey. The Lotrin forest was filled with all kinds of animals. Even though he had spent the last week calibrating the sensor to filter out most of the recognizable sounds of wildlife movement, there were plenty that too closely resembled a Lombax's movement sounds to be completely removed from his sensor's database.

As Kaden hid in a bush, he began to activate various other pieces of detection equipment. It wasn't until his thermal scanner verified a heat source, consistent with a Lombax wearing light armor or an inactive/sleeping Brown Tree Ape, that Kaden began to take the alert seriously. Since the target had originally been detected by his acoustic analyzer, it must have been making sounds consistent with movement. This made the chance that the target was a sleeping animal unlikely and gave Kaden a good feeling that he'd finally found another student.

The tan-furred Lombax stalked out from his hiding spot and snuck up on the target as quietly as he could. His wrench was ready in his hand and his suit's special systems were charged. If he could get the jump on the other student, he wouldn't have to use any of his limited supplies. A good whack or two to their helmet with his wrench would be quick, easy, and cheap.

Kaden held his breath as he listened to the scratching from the other side of the tree. His target was just a few feet away now and he was ready to pounce. Hopefully, the enemy wouldn't be ready for him. If they turned out to be a skilled fighter, it would have been unlikely that Kaden would have detected them so easily, unless they had already detected him and were lying in wait. Kaden spied one of the hovering game cameras nearby. If the latter was the case, then he'd look very stupid in front of the whole school... and in front of Sorana if she was watching. He shook away the thought. He had been careful, so he shouldn't have been detected easily either, and he couldn't turn back now.

With one last, deep breath, Kaden leapt around the tree with his wrench raised in his right hand and his left hand ready to deliver a second attack if necessary. His opponent stood before him, a very large Brown Tree Ape, caked in dirt from a recent mud bath.

The creature turned to face Kaden in surprise as it registered the sudden appearance of another mammal and as Kaden registered his mistake. The Ape reacted first. Baring its fangs before howling loudly in anger, it leapt at Kaden with its long arms snatching at any part of him it could.

Kaden dodged out of the way by diving to the ground and rolling to safety. He came up facing away from the Ape and ready to run, but the mud caked beast had managed to grab his ankle in its flailing attack. It immediately pulled back on the leg, forcing the Lombax into the ground on his stomach and giving him the bitter taste of dirt in his mouth.

As he hit the ground, Kaden's wrench got tangled up in a vine and refused to budge when he tried to swing it at his attacker. In the moment of hesitation caused by the snag, the Ape was able to jump onto Kaden's back where it then began hammering on his helmet, driving his face down into the mud.

Kaden took an approximate guess as to where the ape's face should be and whipped his tail at where, he hoped, the beast's eyes were. The ape roared angrily and swatted at the newfound annoyance. Kaden felt a slight change in pressure as the animal's center of mass shifted. Using it to his advantage, he rolled as hard as he could and was able to topple the animal off his back and onto the ground.

The ape shrieked in surprise as it scrambled to get itself upright before jumping back on top of Kaden who had now on rolled onto his back. As the ape swung its right arm down Kaden caught its wrist in his right hand and pulled it between them to block the animal from continuing to attack with its left. The sudden stalemate caught the animal off guard and it hesitated as it tried to figure out what to do.

After a near instantaneous, mentally-transmitted signal to his glove, Kaden punched the Ape right in its face with his free, left hand. The beast was stunned, but only for a moment. It regained its composure, broke Kaden's hold of its wrist through sheer rage and roared at him again with all its might. Grabbing Kaden with both hands, the ape lifted the helpless Lombax over its head and threw him as hard is it could.

Kaden slammed into a tree a short distance away and had the air knocked out of his lungs as he collided. The ape was on him again before he could recover, clasping its hands together into a single massive fist and holding it above his sprawled form, poised to strike. Kaden crossed his arms in front of his face in preparation for the attack... but it never came. The only thing that assaulted him was instead a series of loud, almost painful sounding howls.

The downed Lombax looked up at last to see that, instead of attacking him, the ape was desperately trying to wipe something off its face and was thrashing about in pain and anger. Kaden took the opportunity roll away from it and regain his wrench. He quickly got back on his feet with his weapon poised in his hands, but he found there was no need for it.

The Tree Ape had completely forgotten about Kaden's presence. The creature instead rolled around in painful confusion as the acid-like microbes that had been released from Kaden's glove continued to eat away at its skin.

A biological weapon of Kaden's own design, the microbes are dormant until they come into contact with living tissue. Once they touch something, they begin to break down any carbon-based material and use it to replicate hundreds of times faster than most natural organic cells, but it wasn't lethal. The microbes' lightning fast replication rate came at cost. The organism itself was wholly dedicated to reproducing and didn't survive long after activation, because its already shakily built DNA sequences became even more unstable with each reproduction. The organism as a whole then dies after just a few minutes.

This weapon, as most of his working biological inventions were, had been born from a failed experiment that Kaden had realized would make a great organic incapacitating tool. 

The howling Tree Ape demonstrated this excellently by dragging its face through the mud before slamming it into a nearby tree, the act of which knocked the creature unconscious. Slowly, it began to rock back until and forth until it finally collapsed onto the forest floor and lay still. Kaden let out a huge breath of relief and brushed himself off before looking around at the now calm area.

_ 'Hey Kaden, good job getting that monkey off your back; Hey Kaden, you sure were monkeying around a lot during the tournament; Hey Kaden, that fight looked chimp-ossible. We all went bananas watching it; Hey Kaden...' _

As Kaden mentally ran through a frustratingly long list of monkey puns that he knew he'd be hearing from anyone that had just witnessed what happened, he found himself wishing that it ‘had’ been a skilled enemy Lombax lying in wait for him after all. At least then he would have had a decent excuse for why he was now spitting out dirt from his mouth and wiping mud off his helmet visor.

Kaden took another deep breath and sighed heavily. Stuffing away useless thoughts for later, he swept the area for signs of other enemies with his analyzers. He then double checked his equipment, double checked Alister's position, and strolled off into the forest once more. He figured that someday that he'd look back on this moment and ape-reciate its humor (he frowned as he added that one to the list), but it wasn't now.

* * *

Kaden was now closing in on Alister's signal. As they had planned, Alister hadn't moved far from his original position, lest he wander off in the opposite direction of his partner.

Kaden would have to be extra careful now, though. Alister did not have a GPS for Kaden. If they’d both had one, it would have been simple to communicate with each other in Morse code by activating and deactivating the signal and that was against tournament rules. Unfortunately, now Alister had no way to know when Kaden was expected to show up.

* * *

Alister sat motionless on a tree branch overlooking the animal path he had chosen to set-up position on. He reflected on his situation and how dire it had become. Kaden hadn't made contact yet, so he was likely either close by, or already out of the tournament.

Alister grinned to himself and shook his head at the thought. If someone was tough enough to make Kaden go all out this early in the game, Alister knew he'd have heard the explosions from here. No, it wasn't concern for his friend that worried the young Lombax now.

Since Alister couldn't move too far from his original position, he was confined to rather small area and when a Lombax warrior is confined to a small area for a long period of time, in a game where hundreds of other warriors were out hunting each other all around them, it meant one very bad thing.... Alister was bored!

He didn't know how much longer he could last like this. Every strand of his fur was itching to go out and hunt down some souls and earn their sweet rewards. He couldn't even lay down any kind of traps for fear that Kaden might walk into it... though it might be funny. 

Alister allowed thoughts of 'accidentally' catching his friend in an elaborate and humiliating booby-trap entertain him while he waited impatiently. Halfway through his favorite imagination so far, a trap that involved capturing a local Brown Tree Ape and unleashing it to leap on top of Kaden, his trained ears picked up the sound of movement on the wind.

Alister immediately assumed it was Kaden and prepared to leap down and meet him, but stopped. 

_ 'Kaden would never let himself be heard so easily,' _ he thought. 

Alister let out a soft whistle that crescendoed into several loud tweets. This was the call of a Fastoonian bird that he and Kaden had decided to use for communication in this scenario.

* * *

Kaden stopped walking. He was very close to Alister's signal now and thought he'd heard a noise nearby, but he couldn't be sure. He wiggled a finger in one of his ears and found that there was still a bit of mud packed into it. He had been listening to his long-range sound wave amplifier (which transmitted its signals directly to his NID) up until a second ago, so he never even noticed the blockage.

* * *

_ 'Well that settles it!' _ thought Alister excitedly after his second whistle failed to be returned.  _ 'Two strikes you're out.' _

Alister detached a small sphere from its magnetic holster and examined it in his hand. This was a weapon of his own design (though Kaden had helped him with some of the calculations). It was a stun grenade. It used a combination of oscillating magnetic pulses and concussive waves to effectively rattle someone into unconsciousness. This grenade could knock the enemy out cold with a single toss. They were hard to make, but one of his proudest creations.

Alister had a personal affection for grenades. They were so compact and versatile, and they came in so many varieties. They were like candy!

He carefully got to his feet on his branch as he listened for the approaching enemy. Just as Alister was about to throw the orb in his hand, he paused. Something didn't feel right to him. The target was getting closer, but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

It came to him just in time. He immediately deactivated the gently buzzing orb and reattached it to his holster. 

_ 'What was he thinking?' _ he chided himself with disappointment. He had let his excitement get the better of him and had been about to make a huge mistake.

Alister pulled out a different grenade before activating it.

_ 'That's better,' _ he thought. It was too early in the game to waste a stun grenade. A concussion grenade was more than adequate for the job.

Alister then tossed the tiny bomb high into the air and watched as it arced up and then down towards a rattling bush below. Just before hitting the ground, the orb split open, allowing the energy that had been stored within it pump out of its core and ionize the air around it. It glowed brightly just before detonating at the exact moment the unsuspecting, brown-furred Lombax emerged from the foliage.

* * *

Kaden heard the heavy thud of an explosion ripple its way through the forest. He immediately recognized it as the sound of a concussion grenade, very likely Alister’s, and was heading off towards it within seconds.

* * *

The brown Lombax was confused and half-blinded by his near proximity to the blast, but not unconscious. In his dazed state he managed to grip his weapon, but was unable to aim it properly in his panicked state, so he let loose a hail of random concussion blasts. Alister dove from his branch as a lucky blast came his way, catching a lower tree limb before swinging down toward the ground and landing behind a tree just in time to avoid the rest of the haphazard barrage of shockwaves.

The Wrecker Cannon that the enemy wielded was essentially an energy shotgun without any ballistic shot in it, so it just blasted super compressed air and would be about as effective as one of Alister's concussion grenades if he took a direct hit, but with the way the enemy was firing that was unlikely.

There was a short pause as the brown Lombax tried to reorient himself. Alister saw his opening and bolted from the tree while simultaneously chucking a micro-concussion grenade at his opponent, which detonated with about a third of the force of the first blast. Alister's objective was to keep the enemy dazed while he moved in for the finishing blow.

As multiple, disorienting explosions began to erupt around him, the besieged Lombax turned and sprinted straight down the path they had come from. He barely avoided branches and trees as he tried desperately to escape his attacker.

Alister pursued and easily caught up to his target just as the path reached a small river flowing swiftly through the woods. Alister had been able to at least scout this area before now and knew that just downriver the path halted at a waterfall. It was only a few meters high, but enough to trap his prey, so he placed another micro-concussion grenade to the brown Lombax's left, successfully driving them towards the dead-end and continuing his pursuit.

* * *

The exhausted, disoriented, and now terrified student continued to run with everything he had. He hadn't even laid eyes on his assailant yet and was already close to losing the fight. It had been a little while since the last explosion had gone off, but he continued to run regardless.

Just as the Lombax was feeling like he may have escaped though, the path ended at a vertical drop alongside a cascading waterfall.

Blinking furiously to clear his still blurred vision, he swung his weapon back around, fearfully searching for his attacker and preparing to blast them the second they showed themselves.

For a long few seconds nothing happened. Nothing moved and all was complete silence.

Suddenly, a white-furred Lombax burst from the river to his right. Caught by surprise, the brown Lombax tried to swing his weapon around, but was nowhere near fast enough.

Alister's wrench connected with his target's side, likely breaking ribs, and sending waves of pain through their body. As the brown Lombax's grip on consciousness slipped, his finger tightened around the trigger of his gun. 

A massive blast erupted from the cannon's mouth and slammed into the ground at point blank range. The recoil of it launched both him and Alister over the waterfall and into the water basin below. The two of them landing in an eruption of water before disappearing below its surface.

* * *

After the water's surface had calmed, Alister burst back up from it with a heavy inhalation of air. He then swam to the edge of the basin and dragged his unconscious enemy out as well. Alister then proceeded to catch his breath while coughing river water out onto the ground.

_ *Clap, clap, clap,* _ came a steady rhythm of noise from behind him.

Alister spun around reflexively and looked back toward the top of the waterfall where the sound was coming from. He pulled back his wrench to throw, but relaxed when he saw a familiar face smiling down at him.

"That was an amazing performance," Kaden shouted to his friend. "I give you a nine in creativity for the surprise river monster attack, but only about a three for the dive. It's the best I could do. Next time try a flip or something. You also lost points for wasted ammunition. How many grenades did it take you to stop this guy?"

"Oh yeah?" retorted Alister in between heavy gasps of air. "Well then let's see your magnificent diving skills. Go on."

Instead of taking his friend’s challenge, Kaden pointed his right arm at an overhanging tree branch and launched his Swingshot grapple into it. After checking that the line was secure, he jumped off of the cliff and swung over to Alister's position with a graceful landing.

"I should've had him with the first grenade," Alister continued, before lightly tapping his unconscious opponent’s helmet with his foot. "He's wearing an extra-strong, anti-trauma helmet. Guess he doesn't like headaches."

Kaden nodded his understanding, "We should probably get moving soon; no telling who heard those explosions," he warned as he ran through combat protocols in his head.

Alister smiled at his friend, "‘After’ I get my prize," he grinned before turning to roll the unconscious Lombax onto their back. "I went through all the trouble of dragging this guy out of water after all," he added before taking a firm grip of the small, level one orb in the metal pocket on his opponent's chest.

"You know you could have just left him in there," said Kaden as he looked up at three hovering game cameras above them. "The tournament officials would have teleported him away before he drowned."

With more effort than Alister was expecting, the orb finally popped out and immediately flared a bright red. They had both known that this happened to all personal souls whose owner was still in the game, making it easier to locate. It'd continue to glow like that for another half-hour until the brown Lombax's time ran out and he was teleported away.

"Yah, but then I'd have to go swimming for his soul," Countered Alister as the two of them examined the small orb closely with shared awe.

"That," Kaden said to Alister without looking away from the glowing orb, "or you'd use your wrench's Bolt-grabber to magnetically collect it. Remember the rules said that the souls were made to work that way."

Alister disregarded his friend's comments and continued to smile at the glowing orb, "Whatever, it doesn't matter now. That's one for me... so where's yours?" he asked as he looked at the dirt covering Kaden's armor. "You look like you fought someone."

Kaden's expression shrunk into a scowl, "Don't ask," he replied as he turned away to get a better look of the area they were in.

"But I already asked," pressed Alister with a curious grin now growing on his face.

"Then don't expect an answer," replied Kaden bitterly. "Come on. We've got plenty of water now, but we still need to find a good place for a base of operations and to scavenge some food supplies," he insisted before heading off into the forest.

Alister shrugged and attached his prize to his armor before following.

Kaden had been mapping the forest's geography in his head as he'd moved through it. His first priority was to find an area that had a wide field of vision to spot incoming enemies. It would be good for when they needed to sleep and would have to take turns on watch duty. 

Conversely, they also needed a place with lots of cover that was good for placing traps. Somewhere with lots of foliage to hide things in and where any pursuing enemy could be lost if necessary. He'd prefer these two places to be nearby so they wouldn't lose too much time traveling between them in the next few days.

The final priority was food. He and Alister had enough to barely last the next few days on thin diets, since most of their storage space was filled with Kaden's equipment. Plus, if they found a good place for gathering food, then that would be another excellent place to trap other students. He had a small bottle of paralysis inducing liquid that he'd brought with him. A few drops in a local fruit and it would be an easy soul from anyone thinking they found a free meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Commander Fortis - is the head of the Military Field and I made up his name from the word ‘fortification’ to reflect his unwavering strength. He is also one of the oldest students at Nova who are still technically ‘in’ the curriculum. Rumor has it that he’s actually a level ten student, but that he refuses to give up command of the Military Field to anyone he deems unworthy.


	13. The Tournament Continues

It was around noon time, day two of the MSE Tournament, and it was currently Alister's turn to be bait. Kaden yawned as he waited for his devices to pick up the sounds of Lombaxes running towards his position. 

He and Alister had found pretty much all the supplies they needed within the first day. They had food, shelter, water; everything they needed to win the tournament. Everything, that is, except for enemies.

Besides the lone soul orb that Alister had acquired the previous day, the duo had nothing to show for their efforts of scouting areas, gathering supplies, and setting traps. They were now taking turns wandering aimlessly about in an attempt to lure other students into their snares, but they were having no luck so far. If they didn't start collecting some souls soon, Kaden was considering putting up signs telling other students their location.

A strong vibration snapped the tan-furred Lombax from his musings as his equipment detected three separate signatures heading towards him. He scrambled up the tree he'd been sitting in to get a better view of the area and it wasn't long after that before he'd picked up three thermal signatures, all definitely Lombaxes. 

A deep echoing boom told Kaden that Alister had used a grenade to keep his pursuers off his tail while he lured them in. Seconds later he spotted his friend's white-furred, red-striped ears through the trees and predicted which path he'd take. 

Jumping down to a lower branch, Kaden flexed his muscles to loosen them and weighed his wrench in his hand to regain his feel for it. He then took hold of a vine and waited.

Alister burst through some low-growing foliage below Kaden, perfectly playing the part of a desperately fleeing Lombax. At least he would have been, if it not for the wide grin of anticipation he wore across his face as he passed over the entrapment zone. 

Following close behind him were two other Lombaxes in hot pursuit.

The one in front was a tan-furred Lombax who wielded an Arc Lasher, an electrified whip that was great for stunning enemies. He also wore medium combat armor with extra shield plates and was obviously the main fighter of the duo, which worked out well for Kaden's trap. 

The other Lombax was brown furred and wore light armor. He carried a Stunbow, which was an energy crossbow modified to fire stunning bolts at long ranges. This student was constantly trying to get a bead on Alister with his weapon, but his target's erratic movements never gave him the chance to line up a shot. Kaden gave Alister a slight nod of approval when he noticed this.

After Alister had cleared the trap's radius, the trap itself armed itself as it had been designed to. It would now spring on the next person that crossed it. 

The heavily armored Lombax, who was right on Alister's tail, ran directly into it and Kaden watched with satisfaction as half a dozen metal orbs, strung together with wire, jumped out from under the leaves where they had been hidden. Each one was powerfully magnetized and clung to the student's armor, ensnaring him in a metal net. 

That wasn't all, though. When the orbs had been pulled out of the ground by their attraction to the nearby metal, they had also unhooked a vine that was holding a log suspended above the ground. 

With a whoosh of air, the massive cylinder of wood fell to the ground, pulling taut yet another vine that snaked its way back up another tree before reaching down and connecting to the magnetic orb net. As the trap's counterweight sped to the ground, the net’s surprised victim was flipped upside-down and rapidly hoisted up high into the trees, causing him to drop his Arc Lasher along the way.

The second Lombax stopped dead in his tracks as his partner vanished into the tree's above. He was caught completely off guard as Kaden swooped in on his vine and landed a perfect Hyper-strike on the top of his head. The poor guy was out cold before he even realized what had hit him.

Shortly after, Alister came striding gleefully back to the site, still wearing his huge grin and practically skipping in joy with his chest puffed out proudly. He came to a stop next to Kaden and looked down at the unconscious Lombax at their feet.

"Just like we planned," he commented jovially. Kaden bent down and pulled the souls off of the unconscious student, of which there were two, including their personal one.

"Well, there's two more," tallied Kaden as he stuck the small orbs to his armor, "now for the rest."

The duo both craned their necks to look up at the struggling Lombax trapped like an insect in a spider's web. He was feverishly flailing about and grunting angrily, but all his efforts gained him was a tighter hold from the wires around him. Finally he stopped his futile thrashing and looked down at his captors.

"Hey," Alister yelled up to the captive, "Are you gonna give up your soul quietly, or are we going to have to take it the hard way?"

In response, the upside down Lombax slowly shifted his body weight, eyeing them darkly.

"Never!" he yelled before a laser blade erupted from his gauntlet. He immediately began sawing his way through one of the wires wrapped around him.

Without missing a breath, Alister dove forward and snatched up the fallen Arc Lasher. After a very quick wind up he flicked his arm forward and struck the ensnared Lombax with their own electro-whip. 

The Lombax shook with pain and muscle spasms as the electricity ran through his body. A few seconds later he was unconscious and dangling limply from the trees.

"I'll get him down," said Kaden as he hefted his wrench.

With careful precision, the tan-furred Lombax threw his weapon at the vine linking the log to the net trap, severing it cleanly. The unconscious student fell like a stone and landed with a thud as Kaden casually caught his wrench one handedly on its boomerang-like return. 

Alister then set to work disarming the magspheres, eagerly anticipating his reward. 

Kaden was keeping an eye out for any third party that might have seen them, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and he turned to look at it.

"Wait!" Kaden shouted just as Alister was about to deactivate the master orb.

Alister stopped and looked up at Kaden with concern, fearing that he may have been doing something wrong with the device, or that an enemy might be nearby, but Kaden was staring intently at the unconscious enemy. 

Alister followed his friend's gaze back to the ground where he too spotted the small signs of movement from underneath the incapacitated Lombax. Kaden kneeled down next to Alister and together they rolled their victim onto his side to find one of the tournament's flying camera drones trapped in the net with them, its gravity manipulator working overtime trying to pull itself from the trap's magnetic grip.

Kaden smiled excitedly at Alister and said, "I've got an Idea."

* * *

It was now early morning on the third day of the tournament and the sun had yet to rise on this side of Fastoon. After their first successful trapping yesterday, the duo had managed to catch three more students before they had to return for the night. Both their armors were now sporting quite a few shiny metal spheres, but they both knew that this was only the beginning.

They had made their camp out of a group of boulders whose layout allowed both of them to conceal themselves well. The camp's position was on the edge of a large clearing. This allowed them to come and go through cover while limiting the ways an enemy could approach without being seen.

Kaden sat comfortably next to his detection equipment, which now included a closed-circuit camera that he had brought so the two of them could keep watch without having to expose themselves from cover. It had been his turn for this final watch before the duo set out to hunt again. Deeper inside the camp, Alister was only just now getting up.

Kaden had spent most of his guard shift tinkering with the small, remote vid-drone they had caught by accident yesterday and, just as the sun began to show itself on the horizon, he finally managed to hack the drone's A.I. core and sync it to his NID. 

Kaden immediately tried to access the other camera drones still flying around the area through their network link, but the whole network had changed its access codes the moment he'd begun hacking his drone.

_ 'That's the most advanced school on Fastoon for you,' _ Kaden thought. He even noticed that all the other vid-drones were keeping their distance from him. He wouldn't be able easily to capture any more of them in this tournament.

Kaden began his first test flight of the drone as Alister was eating his breakfast. Using a projected holo-screen interface on his gauntlet, Kaden piloted the drone into their hideout and straight up to Alister. The unsuspecting Lombax barely spared a glance at it before he returned to his food. 

Just as Kaden had hoped, the sight of a vid-drone was already so much a natural part of the tournament that not even Alister suspected anything of it.

Kaden commanded the drone to fly straight into Alister's forehead, hitting him with a weak thunk, before doing a few somersaults in front of his now confused face. Alister swatted at the drone, but it dodged easily. He growled his annoyance and picked up his wrench. Kaden immediately flew the drone out of the rocky outcrop and directly into his hand. Alister showed up a second later, wrench in hand and stared at Kaden with squinted eyes.

"So you got your toy working, huh? You could have just told me," he said with an irritated tone. 

Kaden grinned back at him, "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" he replied.

Alister yawned deeply as he began stretching in the early morning sun, "So, how's this thing going to help us in the tournament?" he asked groggily.

"Well, with this we'll be able to get a bird's eye view of our entire surroundings and since even you didn't know it was being controlled by a student, no one else will either," Kaden explained. "We'll also be able to find and pick-out our targets much easier this way."

"Then are we still going to the trapping area, or are we going to take some enemies head on for once?" Alister asked. Though he knew better, he sometimes wished Kaden didn't always want to do things the careful and calculated way. Despite their relative success at using the traps, Alister truly just wanted to fight one-on-one and warrior-to-warrior.

"Head on of course," Kaden answered with a confident grin. "With this gadget we'll always have the element of surprise." Alister looked disbelieving at first, but his expression quickly brightened as he realized his friend was being serious. "In fact," Kaden continued, "I think now would be a good time for us to use this-" Kaden reached to his side and showed Alister a metal box, about the length of his forearm, that he'd pulled out of their arsenal last night. 

Alister's expression brightened even more.

* * *

Less than an hour after finishing breakfast, Kaden and Alister had found their next target. The duo watched through Kaden's arm mounted holo-display as their camera drone flew in close to a heavily armored, level two, white-furred Lombax. She was sitting, peeling a fruit while chewing on dried fish in a small alcove under a massive, jutting boulder. Kaden counted eight souls attached to her armor besides her personal one.

"So how do you want to do this?" asked Alister eagerly.

Kaden thought for a bit. Because of the location it'd be best to attack with some kind of long-range explosive. The rocky alcove she was in meant she could only be attacked from one side, but that also meant any concussive force would be multiplied. He made a decision, one that, if he was honest he had already made back at camp.

Kaden took the forearm-lengthed metal box that he'd brought and opened the top. Two rows of three tubes sat inside. Each one had a small cone shaped tip that stuck out. 

Alister rubbed his hand together. This was one of his favorite weapons among Kaden's inventions. He'd always hoped that if he begged long enough his friend would finally build a special one for him. Kaden would have made him one of the same design had he asked, but Alister didn't like the idea of needing extensive NID upgrades to be able to control it. He preferred that his brain remain as organic as possible.

Kaden unclipped a pair of small legs on the underside of the rocket pod. This particular weapon was designed for bringing heavy ordnance to the field with the versatility of a side arm. He connected the legs to his armor's special shoulder guard and leaned it back. 

The launcher sat comfortably on his shoulder, like a pirate's parrot, and after a few seconds it had linked to his NID. After a quick calibration check, Kaden locked onto the coordinates of the rock alcove and with just a thought, he sent two rockets screaming off into the sky. He and Alister both watched on the camera as the white Lombax sat eating her food, completely unaware that she was seconds away from a rude interruption.

Her ears perked up indicating she'd heard something unusual and she turned just in time to see a missile strike the boulder roof just above her and another strike the ground at her feet. Their combined shockwaves kicked up enough dirt to completely cover the alcove in a smokescreen. Kaden and Alister were on the move a second later, running to catch the target before she could recover… if she could recover at all.

In his haste to get to the target Alister had lost his sense of caution. Kaden was the first to see the booby trap just ahead. "Down!" he yelled the moment he saw it, before diving for cover himself.

Luckily, Alister's reflexes and trust in his friend meant there was almost no hesitation between the warning and his reaction. He dove into a ditch just as an explosive device with a proximity fuse went off. A shock wave roared over Alister's back, but most of it was diverted thanks to the ditch he was in. 

A few seconds later, he stood up and looked around. But, before the dust had even settled, they began moving again, this time with a sharp eye out for more surprises.

* * *

The two of them had found and avoided two more proximity mines by the time they arrived at the alcove. The dust had settled and unfortunately the white Lombax was nowhere to be found. Her food scraps and some of her gear was all that was left behind.

"That's just great," sulked Alister disappointedly. "She got away and now we're down two rockets." 

Alister had been sure that two of Kaden's rockets would have put anyone down completely. Suddenly he turned and looked suspiciously at his friend.

"What?" Kaden asked at the accusing stare.

"You turned down the yield on those rockets didn't you?" interrogated Alister.

Kaden looked back at him incredulously, "You're saying this is my fault?" he replied.

"No, I asked a question. One you haven't answered yet," The two friends locked eyes, but after a moment, Kaden averted his. "Oh come on Kaden. Really?" Alister shouted as his suspicions were confirmed.

"Well… the force was going to be multiplied by the alcove anyway. I didn't want to blow her limbs off. My rockets are at the very edge of what is considered class four lethal. With the feedback from the rocks it would have measured at least class five," Kaden argued in his defense.

Alister shook his head, "Unbelievable. I thought you were supposed to be nothing but logical. Obviously her armor was strong enough to withstand the blast and then some." Alister took a calming breath before continuing. "Come on. We might still be able to catch her. She can't have gotten too far. I'm sure her head's still spinning and she's probably walking in circles."

While looking down at his feet in mild shame, Kaden caught a glimpse of something through a crevice between the boulders to his side, "Hold on," he said before leaning down to inspect it closer.

He reached inside the gap and pulled out a shiny metal orb, a soul. He then immediately raised his wrench up into the air and supercharged its Bolt-grabber. With a hum of energy, five more souls flew from all around and stuck themselves to the OmniWrench.

"Well…" Alister began after Kaden showed him the haul. They made him feel much better about the situation, but he was still slightly annoyed, "she still has the two, plus her personal one."

"Forget about it," Kaden countered. "She's a level two with only one soul left. Plus she might have more traps set and this time she'll know we're coming. It's not worth the risk. We'll have plenty more prey with this," Kaden finished with a gesture to the vid-drone floating nearby.

Alister shook his head, "Fine," he conceded. He never liked leaving something half-done, but Kaden had a point. Though, he had a strong feeling that his friend was still just being soft.

* * *

Kaden and Alister were regrouping at a large tree. It was the fourth day of the tournament and Kaden was watching his holo-monitor feed from the hacked game cam. Alister approached the tree and gave the greeting signal from somewhere below and out of sight, which Kaden returned. A few seconds later Alister himself appeared next to Kaden.

"What's the situation?" he asked, eager to hear about their next target. Kaden was actually observing something very interesting at the moment.

"Look here," he replied as he tilted his screen towards Alister. "Some level twos formed a hunting party. One member stays in the middle with a guard while the rest scour the area collecting souls. They always bring them back before collecting too many."

Alister studied the screen for a bit before giving it a nod of approval, "That's a good strategy. How many are in the group?"

"Since I started tracking them I would say about seven, plus the leader and his bodyguard," answered Kaden. "At least, that's how many different students I've seen working together so far. Their leader is wearing over a hundred souls of both levels."

Alister whistled at the number, "That's a lot of bolts, but they'll have to split their earnings nine ways."

"Maybe not," said Kaden with a slight smile. "The strategy is good because when they lose a member they only lose a few souls, but the remaining members aren't obligated to pay them a full share of the prize after the tournament is over. They could argue that getting disqualified means they didn't do as much work as the rest and didn't deserve as big a cut, if they even deserved a cut at all."

Alister suddenly became excited, "If they lose enough members I say we go over there and help ourselves to that massive haul!"

Kaden had thought about this already, but he still paused for a bit and weighed the option again before countering, "Even if they lost all their members we'd still have to face two level two Military students. It would also make sense that the one carrying all the souls is probably their strongest fighter," he concluded.

Alister seemed to deflate a little, "That's a shame, but I still feel like we should try it if they do lose all their partners. Have they lost any yet?"

Kaden shook his head, "It's hard to tell, since I can only see one area at a time," he mused thoughtfully, "They've probably lost some though, I haven't seen the guy with the rocket launcher or the girl with green armor for a while now."

Kaden and Alister continued to watch as another student approached the leader and gave him three more souls. Both of them were getting soul fever just from watching the leader add them to his stash. 

As the student returned to the battlefield Kaden noticed something moving off to the side of the camera's aerial view. He focused the camera on it, but couldn't get a good look at it. He then mentioned this it to Alister.

"Well, follow the guy leaving and see what happens," Alister suggested.

Kaden didn't really want to leave the boss, and all those souls, but it wasn't like they actually planned on attacking him anyway. He directed the camera to follow the unaware student that had just left the group's base and he kept an eye out for whatever was moving through the trees. They didn't have to wait long, however, for a second student to appear.

Kor was moving silently through the trees as he stalked the first student. He was wearing just over forty souls; seven of which were level two souls. But that wasn't what fascinated Kaden the most. The tan Lombax couldn't believe how fast Kor was moving. He was so close to his target that if he'd made a single sound they'd be alerted to his presence, but even with his full suit of armor and his Malleus wrench, Kor hadn't made so much as a rustle. The student he was stalking had no idea they was being hunted.

Kor continued like this for a minute or two, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. It came when his target had been distracted by a small rodent like animal that scurried out of a bush. 

Kor was behind the student before Kaden could blink. To his surprise though, Kor didn't land a critical blow to a vital spot, which would have finished the fight before it even started. Instead, the red armored Lombax reached underneath the student's arm to his chest and ripped out his personal soul before giving them a swift kick that sent them sprawling. 

Kaden had made the camera move close enough by now that its audio receptors could pick up conversation. Kor laid his massive wrench across his shoulders and gripped it in his right hand while his left displayed the soul, now glowing red, to the bewildered student.

"You have thirty minutes," came Kor's grainy, half-artificial voice as he made a display of sticking the soul to his armor. "Try to make the effort of hunting you worth more than a single soul."

The student looked furious, but also scared. Kaden understood. The legend of the Red Lombaxes notwithstanding, anyone could tell that Kor himself was a terrifying adversary. He moved like a ghost and Kaden had already witnessed firsthand how good he was with his wrench.

Either out of blind fear, blind rage, blind stupidity, or a combination of the three, the student grabbed his wrench and charged blindly at his opponent.

Kor cocked his head, almost in disappointment, before crouching slightly, but didn't move from the spot or prepare his weapon. To Kaden it looked as though the student's sudden charge may have actually caught Kor by surprise and that he’d misread his body language, but just as his opponent reached striking distance, Kor straightened back up like an uncompressing spring while also pulling down on his wrench's handle like a lever. This propelled the massive wrench into the air. 

With its handle firmly in his grip, Kor then swung hard and carried his weapon’s momentum perfectly to connect a terrifyingly accurate blow; wrench head to Lombax head.

The other student was sent flying sideways, losing his helmet, and smacking into the ground and rolling twice from the momentum before finally lying still. The shattered pieces of the helmet were strewn across dirt around him. 

Kor swung the wrench back onto his shoulder and looked down at the fallen Lombax. He offered a small bow to his opponent before turning and heading back towards the group's camp with as much calm as if he'd been strolling through a park. Kaden looked at Alister who gulped loudly before meeting his gaze.

"I say... we stay away from Kor in this event," Alister suggested. "That's the eighth level two soul he's got and he took that guy down like he was nothing."

"That sounds like a good idea," agreed Kaden. "We might lose more than just a soul orb or two if we fought him." A small part of Kaden had actually wanted to meet Kor in this tournament and settle his small grudge against him. He still desperately wanted to learn more about the mysterious Lombax, but that part had died the second Kor's wrench likely broke the other student's neck.

The two of them watched Kor return to the base and stalk another student as they left, almost mesmerized by the culling that was playing out in front of them.

"Why aren't they forming smaller teams?" asked Alister after a while. "They have to know they're losing members by now."

It was a good question and Kaden thought about it for a moment, "Maybe the leader is letting them get picked off." Kaden suggested. "Only he and his guard know who's stopped showing up and if everyone made it out of the game he'd have to pay out in full to all of them. It's clever, really. With all the members spread out they're catching a lot of other students quickly and at the same time losing members, ensuring a bigger cut for whoever's left."

Alister shook his head, "That's so deceitful," he spat in disgust.

Their camera-drone had been following Kor as he followed his second prey this whole time, but just as Kaden was preparing to see a similar situation as the first unfold, the camera suddenly lost track of him. 

He quickly directed his drone to pan around the area, but couldn't find a trace of his target.

Shaking his head in wonder, Kaden gained some altitude and began sweeping the treetops. He stopped when he found the unconscious form of the other student laying over a rock, his personal soul removed.

"Where'd he go?" asked Alister in confusion.

Kaden scowled, but didn’t turn away from the screen "Sure, because the camera screen I'm watching shows more than the one you are," Kaden replied sarcastically. He moved the controls to pan around again, but the screen didn't change.

"What's going on?" came another question from Alister.

"I don't know," Kaden said as he furiously began entering commands into the camera controls. "Either I lost my connection to the drone or the school mainframe is trying to anti-hack it back from me."

Neither of these turned out to be true, however. The camera was slowly spun around and Kaden's screen was filled with a close-up view of Kor's helmet covered face. 

His synthesized voice came in loud and clear through the drone, "I don't like being followed."

One by one, cracks streaked across Kaden's screen before being replaced entirely by a wall of static and then finally a Signal Lost message. Both Kaden and Alister turned to each other with mouths open in stunned disbelief.

Kaden gathered his composure first and disengaged his holo-screen before standing up, "Well… I guess it's back to the old-fashioned way."


	14. The Tournament Ends

Kaden and Alister made their way through the low bushes and trees of the Lotrin Forest as the midday sun their fifth and final day peered through the branches. Between the two of them they had managed to collect around ninety souls, fifteen of which were level two and worth twice as much as the others.

Since losing their flying eye, however, they had decided on returning to luring in each target on foot, before ensnaring them in a trap.

At last, they reached their regrouping point.

Alister groaned loudly, "Alright, no more groups of five. That was our last one," he declared adamantly before dropping to the ground and stretching out his aching muscles.

It had become increasingly rare that the two of them came across single students anymore. It was apparent to Kaden that teaming up was not only an acceptable part of the game, but likely the only way to survive. Kaden supposed there was a lesson about teamwork in that.

"It was also our first," replied Kaden, shaking his head. "Groups of five might be the only ones left who are willing to come out of hiding at this point."

Alister fumbled around in the buried supply stash for a canteen, "Then maybe we should just join them and hunker down until the tournament ends," he suggested as began draining a canteen of water mixed with electrolyte powder, before belching loudly.

Kaden thought about his friend's idea. Alister was probably right; the more souls they had, the more they risked losing. They had a good haul now so it made sense to quit while they were ahead.

Kaden immediately began drawing up a vision in his head of what he wanted for their final base's defenses to be. Position eight was a location they had scouted recently. It had heavy cover and poor visibility. That was fine though, since they just needed to hide.

"Ok then. Let's move out to position eight. We'll cover our tracks and we should be safe there until sunset," Kaden decided after some thought.

"What?!" cried Alister in surprise. "You don't mean we're actually done, do you?"

Kaden turned back to his friend with a confused look, "Well yeah. Wasn't that your plan?"

"Since when do we follow my plans?" countered Alister. "I was just complaining to relieve stress. We can't seriously stop now. We just got twenty-eight more souls in a single attack. All made possible by those mud traps of yours. We can take down any group with a plan."

Kaden was caught off guard by Alister's one-eighty degree change in opinion, but at the same time he knew his friend was right… they never went with Alister's plans.

Though Kaden had already made the decision to stop and hide (which under normal circumstances he wouldn't go back on), the look on his friend's face was like a puppy asking for a treat, so he made an exception. After all, they had been very lucky so far.

* * *

Kaden and Alister had laid vines all over a single spot on a trail in crisscrossing patterns, before hooking them around various roots and shrubs. Their endings were tied to several logs that had been secured in the air by one master vine. It was a simple trap, to be sure, but they were down to Kaden's last two Fission Cells. One of which was half dead and powering his basic suit operations now.

A second trap was set up just behind the first one. This was in case they were found by a group too large to fight even after the first trap was set off. It was a simple log swing, held up in a tree. Its danger zone was at a spot on the path that was densely flanked by foliage.

The master vine of the second trap had been looped down across the path so that it could be cut by the bait runner. Anyone with Lombax reflexes could easily avoid the log, but the point of the trap was one of defense, not offense. The pursuers would either have to dodge the incoming log by jumping into the foliage, or run away from it. Either choice would give whoever was being chased time to escape.

It was Kaden's turn to act as bait this time, while Alister waited to activate the trap and then swoop in for the finishing blow. Surprisingly, though, Kaden found their next target fairly quickly, for the old fashioned way at least. He really missed his flying camera.

He had been walking around in an open field with a clear view all around him for about an hour when he noticed someone moving around its edge. He pretended not to notice them before making his way back to the trap while letting himself be followed. He could tell from several subtle glances that his pursuer was a level two student. Kaden was glad that it was only one, even if they were a level two. He and Alister would be able to handle them easily.

* * *

Kaden pressed forward on his final approach and was now almost to the trap. He waited for his stalker to catch-up and prepared to put on a performance where he would pretend to notice them, then run towards the trap. Hopefully the other student would be too eager to notice the trap as they pursued him straight into it.

The tan-furred Lombax spotted a glint of armor in the trees ahead which told him that Alister was in position and ready. Kaden then pretended to rest, making his opponent think that this was their opportunity to attack at last. When the other student was a good distance out, Kaden looked up and ‘spotted’ the enemy Lombax, gave them a look of mock surprise, then ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. The enemy leapt from their hiding spot and followed him just as planned.

Kaden passed the entrapment zone and a smile split his face. He then came to a stop, spun around and watched as his pursuer ran right over the trap… but nothing happened.

 _'What was Alister doing?'_ was all Kaden had time to think before he had to spin on his heels and run for real this time.

Unfortunately, Kaden's choice to pause and watch his opponent get captured had allowed the other Lombax to get too close and they managed to throw a grenade high into the air and it landed right on the path in front of Kaden.

Immediately Kaden dove for cover as a concussion wave erupted from where he would have been a second ago. As he hit the ground he rolled and came up with his wrench in hand and facing his opponent. He would have to take on his pursuer one-on-one.

Kaden took a swing at the enemy's head, which they dodged easily, before countering with a swipe of their own wrench at Kaden's legs. Kaden jumped back to dodge it, throwing his wrench as he did, aiming for his assailant’s head again.

His opponent moved just in time to narrowly avoid the hit, letting Kaden's wrench slice through the air centimeters from their face. While Kaden's Omniwrench would eventually return to him, it would take at least a second for the grav-manipulators in it to turn its momentum around.

Knowing that Kaden would be wrenchless for a brief moment, the other Lombax seized the opportunity to charge forward with the intention of using a heavy strike that would likely end the fight. Seeing the charge, Kaden reached out with his hand in a seemingly futile effort to block the attack, goading his attacker to press the assault.

Just as the finishing blow was coming, a mental signal from Kaden's NID sent a blast of sound erupting from the sonic disruptor nodes in his gloves. Focused by the cup shape he'd formed with them. The attacker dropped his wrench and put his hands to his ears, trying to stop the piercing wail that assaulted his senses. The sound waves were so strong they likely shattered his opponent's unprotected eardrums.

Kaden cut the power to his disruptors and immediately delivered a swift kick to his opponent's gut, knocking them to the ground just as his wrench came spinning back to him. Kaden caught his weapon in the air and raised it for a finishing blow, but there was no need. The person that laid on the ground before him was unconscious.

At first, Kaden had thought his opponent was feigning unconsciousness, due to the relative ease with which they'd been taken down, but it was soon clear that they were not getting up.

Once Kaden was sure that they were actually incapacitated he let out a huge breath of relief and allowed himself a feeling of triumph.

However, Kaden was disappointed a moment later when he noticed that the enemy student had almost no souls on their armor besides their own. At this point in the game they should have had way more souls than that. They must have been lost in a fight where the student had managed to get away.

After closer examination Kaden also saw some pretty heavy dents in the student's armor, confirming his suspicions. They indicated that the student must have been in bad shape before finding him and had probably been desperate to regain a few souls before the tournament ended. Either way Kaden removed all of the remaining souls from their armor, starting with the personal one.

After tying his opponent’s hands for good measure, Kaden began walking back to the first trap and was seriously debating whether or not to split the paltry few souls he'd gotten with Alister. After all, he'd failed to trigger the trap, forcing Kaden to fight the level two student by himself.

Only, Kaden couldn't find his companion. Once back on the main path and making his way back to the first trap, the tan Lombax whistled out their safety call, but didn't receive a response. This put Kaden on edge.

In response, however, there was metallic sounding clink from just ahead.

Without time to think, Kaden reflexively hit the dirt hard to avoid something heavy that was flying his way. The unknown object zipped by over his head and hissed through the air before burying itself in a tree behind him. He turned around to see what it was and felt his heart stop when his mind registered what he saw.

A five foot long, Malleus Wrench was sticking out of the tree trunk with its head buried up to the neck. Kaden's heart rate accelerated as adrenaline once again pumped through his veins. He knew there was only one person who wielded such a wrench and he turned to look down the path, where, sure enough, a red-armored Lombax was walking calmly toward him.

Kaden was surprised that anything could draw his attention from his dire situation, but there was…

Over two-hundred souls decorated Kor's armor and almost half of them were level twos. They flashed brightly as the rays of light leaked through the tree canopy and bounced off of them. Kor stopped walking a few meters from where Kaden had gotten to his feet, just shy of the first trap’s danger zone.

Then, the red-armored Lombax spoke in his usual synthetic voice, which was terrifying in Kaden's current situation, "Your reflexes are impressive, but it would seem that you still lack awareness," Kor began as if addressing someone he hadn't just attacked. "If your prey is wounded then there is a good chance that another predator is already hunting it."

With those words, Kaden suddenly realized that the player he had just taken down was probably injured fighting Kor and that the red-armored Lombax had been looking to finish the job.

Kor spoke again, pulling Kaden back out of his thoughts, "I would have thought you'd be more cautious after losing your flying toy, but I guess not," Kor continued.

Kaden's eyes widened and he stared at Kor in disbelief. It had been hard for him to accept that Kor had uncovered his hacked camera drone in the first place, but he was at least sure that there was no way anyone could have known who was operating it. However impossible it seemed though, Kor had figured it out and that meant Kaden once again couldn't explain something about the mysterious Lombax.

Kaden could feel the queasy, spinning feeling he got when something didn't make sense, but his survival instincts buried it deep in his subconscious. He was in danger now and his confusion would have to wait.

With a forced calm, Kaden's mind focused on his situation and began analyzing it in detail. His opponent, Kor Vol'terran, was not in possession of his main weapon, but he wouldn't have thrown it away if it left him completely unarmed. He was also just a few feet from the entrapment zone, which gave Kaden a great opportunity.

The question was, how could he lure Kor into the necessary position and simultaneously trigger the trap. Kaden's sonic disruptors would also be useless because Kor's ears were tucked into his old fashioned helmet.

Even in his state of near panic, Kaden paused his thoughts to respect the fact that a new trick of his was rendered useless by an old piece of technology. It was then that he noticed something in the forest.

Without moving his eyes from his opponent so as not to tip them off, Kaden confirmed what the thing was from his peripheral vision alone, and with it, made his plan.

Very slowly Kaden reached to his side and switched his last Fission Cell up to full charge before taking a stance to face Kor.

Kor tilted his head in what Kaden now believed was a sign of amusement.

Kaden took one last, long breath, reconsidered running away, and then finally charged forward.

The tan-furred Lombax came in swinging low at first and then swung up at the apex of the first swing's arc. Kor easily dodged the combo and swung a quick jab in retaliation to Kaden's gut.

Kaden jumped back, knowing beforehand that his first blows would never make contact and took the opportunity to closely examine Kor's fists. A chill ran down his back as he spotted a soft glow of energy on each of Kor’s armored knuckles and he silently thanked his good intuition.

Impact Drivers, of which Kor’s fist had four each, were perfect for this kind of game. They were lightweight, required relatively low amounts of power to operate for long periods of time, and could do great damage if they ever connected with an opponent. The drawback was that the wielder must essentially be able to land a punch in a battle that usually involved ranged weapons. Kaden doubted it was a concern for Kor, though.

After regaining his footing, Kaden threw his wrench and watched Kor easily dodge it once on its away flight and then again on its boomerang like return. Kaden caught the weapon when it reached him and dropped back into a stance to prepare for the counter-attack.

Kor closed the gap between the two of them in a single lunge and took several swings, but Kaden dodged them with expertly calculated precision, all the while drawing his opponent into the trap.

Kaden's usual method of fighting hand-to-hand was by predicting his opponent's moves like a chess game, but Kor was moving so fast that his mind could barely keep up. His only reprieve in this fight was that he had his wrench and Kor did not. Currently, Kor's attack range was limited to his arm's length while Kaden was able to use his wrench to block the numerous blows that had been much too fast for him to dodge. There was no room for offense, as it was all Kaden could to do just to match his opponent… but that was fine. Beating Kor in a straight up fight wasn't his intention.

After an excruciatingly exhausting fifteen seconds of dodging, blocking, and slightly retreating, Kor finally stepped into the exact position Kaden had hoped for.

Putting all of his hopes into one last attack, he threw his wrench in a wide angle that just missed Kor and spun off into the air.

The move had been necessary, but the opening it made in his defense cost Kaden greatly. Not one to waste an opportunity, Kor landed a direct hit to Kaden's stomach, knocking the breath out of the tan-furred Lombax and lifting him several inches off the ground as the Impact Drivers sent shockwaves of pain into his armor, muscles, and organs. Before Kaden's feet had even brushed the dirt again, Kor grabbed his opponent by their armored collar and lifted him off the ground.

Kaden had installed a few of his specially designed Kinetic Dissipaters into his armor for safety, but the level of pain he now felt from that one attack was on a scale completely above what he had expected. Still, he smiled through it as he watched his wrench curved around and come back in a long arc that lead right through where the master vine stood taut.

However, Kor saw Kaden's look of accomplishment and before he'd even fully turned to face it, the armored Lombax had whipped out a small Gemini Pistol from a holster in his armor with his free hand. It took him less than a nanosecond to adjust the weapon slightly and shoot the wrench off its trajectory.

The shot had been perfect, barely in time, but successful in blasting the weapon just short of its target. Kor held Kaden in the air with one arm and the steaming pistol in the other.

"A trap?" the armored Lombax commented without turning back to Kaden. "And a very well concealed one too. I wasn't even aware of it until just now. It's a good thing I caught you by surprise or else you might have been a threat," he admitted with an unrecognizable hint of respect from his static heavy helmet speaker.

Kor then turned to face Kaden. Satisfied at having foiled his opponent’s plan, but was surprised when he saw that Kaden hadn't removed the grin of accomplishment from his face.

Kor looked down to see one of the tan Lombax's hands laying flat against his red armored chest, while the other one was gripped around his outstretched arm.

With a single thought, Kaden sent every single volt of electricity his Fission Cell could generate pouring out of his gloves and into Kor's armored body.

A howl of pain erupted from Kor's helmet and split the air as the speakers' usual poor quality was worsened by the electrostatic interference that burned through its wiring. The end result sounded like the roar of some horrible, mythical monster as it echoed through the trees.

Uncontrollable muscle spasms racked Kor's body, forcing him to drop his opponent, who then immediately took hold of the opportunity to jump backwards and get a safe distance away.

A second later Alister cut the master vine, causing around thirty other vines to shoot out from the dirt and trees, looping around Kor's body, and pinning him to the ground before going taut and holding him in place.

"And where have you been?!" shouted Kaden with a large mix of exhaustion, adrenaline, relief, and just a hint of self-satisfaction.

Alister ran from the bushes that he'd been hiding in, bringing Kaden's wrench with him, before standing next to his friend with his eyes still on Kor, "I noticed him tailing your guy from up in the trees. I figured the best thing I could do was to hide and wait for an opportunity to strike the more dangerous of the two."

Kaden wanted to be mad at his friend because of the terror that ran through him after finding himself face to face with the red armored warrior. He couldn't, however, based on the simple logic that Alister's actions had made it possible to achieve victory.

Kaden's Fission Cell beeped in his ear to alert him that its power reserves were drained. The tan Lombax looked down at his gloves and watched the heat haze bend the light around them as he felt the intense temperature burning his palms and fingers before his face cracked into a huge grin.

"Let's call that our last one," he said cheerfully, though still trying to catch his breath.

"No kidding," replied Alister, "did you see how many souls he's got on him?! I guess we know if he was able to take down that group or not."

Kaden looked over at the restrained Lombax who was lying motionless on the forest floor. Smoke rose slowly from his armor. The whole situation was very surreal, almost unbelievable, but it appeared that they had actually beaten Kor.

A few metallic tinged coughs snapped Kaden and Alister back to reality as the restrained figure shifted slightly in an attempt to test its bonds.

After feeling no give in any extremity, Kor lifted his head from the ground just enough to look at the two friends who were now in a combat stance, but more from reflex than actual necessity.

"Of course," began a strained, metallic voice, "There are two of you." Kor's tone was self-reproachful, even through his poor speakers, and his breathing was clearly heavy as it rattled through the helmet’s air filters.

Kaden gathered his courage and walked closer to the Lombax in order to ask a question, "How did you know I was controlling the Vid-drone?" he demanded.

Now that the rush of the fight was over, the question had returned to his mind, along with many others, and his impatience for not knowing something had taken hold.

Kor looked at him and tilted his head slightly again. Kaden couldn't be sure if that was still a sign of amusement, since he couldn't imagine anyone being amused in Kor's position.

Kaden didn't hear any humor or insult from Kor's next words… though they stung all the same, "I didn't,” answered the armored Lombax simply. “Ever since I crushed that drone I've mentioned it to every Lombax I've come across that looked smart enough to control one. You were the first to know what I was talking about," Kor finished with a small grunt of pain.

 _'Well, at least that mystery was solved,'_ Kaden thought with a shake of his head. Kor was staring straight at him, his breathing had returned to normal and though Kaden couldn't see Kor's eyes, he felt them studying him closely.

"What is your name?" asked Kor flatly.

Kaden thought of how weird the situation was. He roughly considered Kor to be the most dangerous student in the tournament at this point, but here he was chatting away with him. Kaden was very sure of his trap, though. The vines that were wrapped around Kor's body were jointly attached to logs that had a combined weight of nearly a thousand pounds. There was no way he could even move in his current situation, let alone escape.

Still, Kaden eyed his opponent suspiciously, "My name is Kaden and this is Alister," he said eventually with a gesture to the almost drooling Lombax that stood next to him, who was staring at the souls on Kor's armor.

Kor didn't break his gaze from Kaden, "I have to thank you… Kaden." Kor began again. "Because of you I finally understand the warning I was given just before I left home."

Kaden hadn't expected to be thanked in this situation, but was curious nonetheless, "And what was that exactly?" he replied.

Kor laid his head back down against the earth, "I was told: 'Be wary of the clever ones'."

Without warning Kor’s body erupted into a massive ball of fire. The blast wave from the explosion knocked Alister and Kaden back a step and almost forced them to lose their balance. The heat was intense, but from the second he felt it Kaden wasn't concerned about himself at all.

The flames rapidly ate through the vines holding Kor in place and the blazing, armored Lombax was back on his feet in seconds. Alister leapt forward instinctively and swung his wrench with everything he had.

But Kor simply caught the incoming wrench in his hand. There was a flash of energy as the wrench's micro-kinetic multiplier field clashed with the power field surrounding Kor's armor, which was causing the air itself to ignite.

Kaden couldn't imagine what the pain must have felt like on Kor's end to have caught an Omniwrench attack in his hand, but he was also beginning to wonder if Kor even felt pain at all. Regardless, the blocked attack left Alister wide open and Kor punched him straight in the sternum. The force of the hit propelled Alister backwards into the bushes and he disappeared from view.

Kor stood and faced Kaden with glowing red eyes. His hands and armor were awash with fire and the Impact Drivers on his hands glowed brightly with several times more energy than before. Kaden had just enough time to think about how cool it would have looked in any other situation, before Kor charged.

Kaden was putting everything he had into dodging now; he knew the fight would be over if Kor made contact. He used his wrench to try and deflect some attacks, but couldn't keep up with Kor's ridiculous speed.

One of Kor’s punches managed to graze Kaden's helmet. It wasn't a direct hit, but it had more than enough force to knock tan Lombax into the dirt and crack his visor in the process.

However, Kaden managed to roll with the hit and was able to come back up to his feet, his head still spinning, but his body was filled with determination. At the same time, he move back a few meters, before taking another defensive combat stance and awaiting the next attack through blurred vision.

Kaden’s plan was to slowly work his way to the second trap and he was just a short distance away now. One more opening was all he needed and he could make a run for it.

He stood, ready to receive Kor's next strike, but Kor didn't move. Instead, to Kaden’s surprise, the flames around the armored Lombax slowly died out and the heavy glow on his knuckles faded.

When the only thing left of the fire was its terrifying memory, Kor began to stretch out his neck before flexing his arms and back. Once finished, he reached over to the Malleus Wrench handle sticking out of the tree to his right and yanked it free in a shower of splintered wood.

Kaden had forgotten about the wrench, now things were more complicated, but his plan was unchanged.

Kor swung his weapon up and across his back shoulders in his usual resting pose while studying Kaden intently.

Then, the red-armored Lombax lifted his left hand and presented a single, brightly glowing, red soul to his opponent.

Where at first there was confusion, soon there was a deep feeling of dread as a heavy weight dropped in Kaden's stomach. Slowly, he looked down at his chest to confirm his suspicions and saw, to his horror, that the tiny seat where his personal soul should have been was now empty.

"You put up a good fight, but I think it's time I ended this," said Kor calmly. Signs of satisfaction and exhaustion were evident even in his metallic voice. "You see, Inferno mode is very taxing and if I were to be caught by whatever trap I'm sure you're luring me into this time, I might not be able to escape again."

Kaden tightened his grip on his wrench as cold acceptance of reality worked its way through him, "I'll get that soul back in less than thirty minutes!" Kaden snarled, though, he didn't actually believe his own words.

Kor laughed in a way that was both cheerful and horrifying, "I don't doubt that you could find a way to get this back,” he replied, waving Kaden’s soul either for emphasis or to taunt Kaden, “given thirty minutes, that is… but you don't have thirty minutes."

Once again Kaden's moment confusion slowly turned into cold realization. Kor hadn't yet attached the stolen soul to his armor. The rules stated, that a soul must be attached to the chest piece a student's armor, or else it would automatically deactivate, to prevent participants from hiding stashes of souls, after five minutes.

From his words and his actions, it was clear that Kor was planning to hold onto Kaden's soul without letting it touch his chest plate and instead wait five minutes until it deactivated, causing Kaden to be disqualified.

"If you let that soul deactivate, it will be worthless!” Kaden yelled back, panic slowly creeping into his voice. “You won't get any prize money for it!"

"That's true," replied Kor thoughtfully. "Consider it an honor. I value one soul to be worth much less than the risk of fighting you for an extra twenty-five minutes."

Then, with a slight nod, Kor spun around and took off back down the trail with dizzying speed. Kaden immediately sped after him, racking his brain for a way to beat him in less than four and half minutes.

Moments later, Alister appeared, running alongside Kaden. His chest armor was dented badly, but he looked to be recovered for the most part.

"What's going on?" said Alister. The pain in his voice was noticeable. "We really gonna chase him down?" In response to his friend’s question, Kaden tapped his personal soul slot and Alister's eyes grew wide. "Well that's bad. Do you at least have a plan?"

Kaden thought a little longer and then looked Alister straight in the eye, "Corrupted Soul," he said adamantly.

Alister gave Kaden a broad smile, before veering off into the woods. Kaden and Alister had been hunting in this area of the forest for several days now, so they knew all of its terrain. They could figure out which path Kor would probably take and with any luck enact their plan before time ran out.

* * *

Alister burst from his forest shortcut and out onto the path just behind Kor. As predicted, he had taken the route leading to the rocky hills. It was an area full of boulders that formed a natural maze, which suited someone so confident in their ability to fight in close quarters.

Alister threw his wrench at the faster Lombax, hoping to slow him down a little as the gap between them began to grow. To Alister's surprise his wrench actually connected with Kor's shoulder, causing his opponent to stumble before recovering and sprinting on. Kor's confrontation with Kaden must have taken more of toll than Alister had thought. Kor glanced back to identify his pursuer, but kept running until he'd disappeared into the rocky outcrop on the edge of the forest.

Alister ran in after him and was immediately greeted by a swinging Malleus Wrench.

The white-furred Lombax dove out of the weapon's path, seamlessly dropping a grenade, before rolling back up to his feet and running behind a rock. The stun grenade went off with ground rattling boom, but Alister knew it wouldn't be enough to stop his opponent.

He started moving again as soon as possible, darting through the outcrops until he stopped behind a random boulder. Alister reached into his weapon holster and pulled out a couple of large green capsules and waited for the sounds of movement. He listened carefully to the silence and the moment the distinct sound of a foot hitting the stony ground reached his ears, he jumped out from his cover to attack.

But, by the time Alister saw what his target actually was, he had already thrown the two capsules at a surprised looking Brown Tree Ape with scars on its face.

The capsules then exploded on contact and a massive cloud of green smoke filled the air. An instant later, the cloud’s gas turned to foam as it mixed with the oxygen in the atmosphere. When it had finished hardening, it held half the creature's body in a giant green blob as the ape howled in surprise and frustration.

Alister reached for more capsules, but immediately had to duck as another swing from a Malleus Wrench obliterated the rock he had been standing next to.

However, as he dodged the attack, he managed drop one of the capsules. It burst and vaporized into another green cloud. Kor barely had time to dodge the gas himself and a large amount of it gathered on his wrench, before rapidly coating the weapon's head in a foam skin.

Kor looked at the foam covered weapon curiously, but then dropped it to the ground after seeing something else.

Alister had accidentally covered one of his legs with gas in his attempt to dodge Kor's attack. He now kneeled with one leg held fast to the ground by green foam and his back to a rock.

Kor looked at him and tilted his head slightly, before slowly walking forward. Alister was in a jam, but he could see Kaden's soul held tightly in Kor's hand. He only hoped that there was enough time left.

Alister swung his wrench when Kor was in range, but his opponent easily caught his arm before delivering a quick jab to his gut. As the air burst from Alister's lungs he dropped his wrench and grabbed his stomach.

During this time, Kor reached up and yanked Alister's personal soul from its slot. He then backed up slowly, showing both the red souls to Alister as he did.

"What no comment for me? Am I not worth talking to?" Alister panted with anger. In response, Kor drew his second Gemini pistol with his free hand and pointed it at Alister. Alister glared back at him, "Fine then, but Kaden has something he wants to say."

Kor hesitated for a moment, but then spun around as he heard the sound of something approaching. A few seconds later Kaden appeared from behind a rock a few meters away, breathing heavily in an attempt to catch his breath.

Kor then swung his pistol around and pointed it at Kaden, knowing there was little more than a minute left before the soul in his hand deactivated. He only had to hold out until then.

But, nothing happened at first, "Give… me a sec," gasped Kaden.

Kor and Alister both waited patiently for several more seconds, "You need to get out of the lab more," chided Alister.

"Shut it." Kaden took one last deep breath, "Ok, I'm ready now."

Kor's head was nearly horizontal as Alister rolled his eyes and repeated, "-but Kaden has something he wants to say…"

Kaden stood up straight and a wicked grin split across his face, "Hands off!" he shouted gleefully before slamming his thumb down on the activation button of the remote detonator in his hand. The moment the trigger had clicked back, the small soul-like object that Kor had just pulled off of Alister exploded in his hand, blasting Kaden's soul up into the air as the armored Lombax grabbed his wrist in pain.

Several days back, Kaden had made a small, remote explosive device that looked identical to a soul from one of Alister micro-concussion grenades and a student’s soul that had been deactivated by the time they'd found it.

The explosion wasn't enough to do serious damage to an armored hand, but enough for a good distraction. Getting it to turn red when it didn't receive a magnetic signal was the trickiest part. Alister had made it stick to his personal soul slot with some tree sap. It was low-tech but effective.

Alister immediately broke free of the inconsequential amount of foam that he’d been pretending was holding his leg in place and dove for the airborne soul. He caught it before it landed and tossed it to Kaden in the same motion.

Alister then pulled another red, glowing soul from his pocket. He and Kaden looked at each other with wide grins of satisfaction while holding up their own souls as if giving a toast to each other.

Simultaneously, Kaden and Alister reached up and placed their souls back into their own personal soul slots. Then the two friends turned to Kor. Now that Kaden had recaptured his soul and the duo stood with a two-to-one advantage over their opponent, they were feeling confident enough to take him on.

The feeling of triumph, however, was interrupted by a small clacking sound that came from the ground at Kaden's feet. Kaden looked down to see a glowing red soul rolling across the rocky floor. He also noticed that there was again no soul in his personal soul slot.

Urgently, the tan Lombax snatched up the soul again and put it back once more, but it simply rolled out. Kaden didn't know what was happening. His mind desperately searched for an explanation, but he couldn't find one. He couldn't understand what was going on. He didn't have an answer, or time to find one and he felt a familiar sensation begin to creep over his mind.

It was the sound of harsh, metallic, muffled laughter coming from the kneeling, red-armored Lombax that pulled Kaden from the brink of his mental spiral. Kor slowly rose to his feet and tapped on his helmet's right cheek twice. Slowly, the grill that made up the helmet's breathing apparatus parted just enough to allow access to the mouth.

Two rows of vicious, pointed fangs curved themselves upward to form a huge, sinister grin. They made a terrifying sight, but Kaden didn't even notice them. The only thing he could see was the brightly glowing soul that they held between them. Kor reached up and pulled the orb out as it started to blink and the grill slid back over the wide shark-like smile.

"You do not disappoint, Kaden," Kor said with satisfaction. "But I will not underestimate you twice." The red orb in his hand began flashing faster.

Kaden made a motion to go for it, but before he could move a foot, the soul stopped flashing and went dark. The personal soul slot on Kaden's armor beeped loudly, like a flat-line signal, and all the souls attached to him demagnetized and fell to the ground. Kaden looked at Alister whose face reflected his own stunned expression. Then Kaden turned back to Kor with his eyes filled with anger before his world disappeared in a flash of blue light.

* * *

Kaden punched the glass wall to the shift chamber he had found himself standing in seconds later. A large crack ran up the transparent material, splitting off several times as it did.

 _'Almost five solid days!'_  echoed Kaden's thought in his mind. For the past five days he had spent every waking moment and some sleeping moments desperately trying to defeat enemies and win the game. All that effort, all that planning, all wasted. But that wasn't even what really bothered him.

Not only was he and his friend both beaten single-handedly by another Lombax their own level, not only did every trick he could think of fail, and not only did he waste expensive supplies and equipment, worse than all of that put together... Kaden had been outsmarted and that was something that had never happened before.

The cherry on top was that he now had to pay for a broken window… at least, that's what the look on the instructor’s face through the cracked glass was telling him.

* * *

 

 

**Image of Kor Vol'terran commissioned from BlueStripedRenulian on DeviantArt. I won't post the link here just yet because she also did another commission for me, a rendition of a scene further into the book, and I don't want anyone to find it and spoil the scene. Link is in the chapter with the other image.**


	15. Down, But Not Out

Just over two days had passed since the Military Student Evaluation Tournament had come to a close. 

In that time, Kaden had spent nearly the entirety of it locked in his room, only ever leaving on occasion to gather food and use the facilities. As a participant of the tournament, he had been given temporary leave from classes for the next several days to recover, but neither of his friends, Alister or Sorana, had heard from him since he'd been discharged from the med-hall. 

It was for this reason that Alister now stood outside Kaden's dorm room while contemplating how to proceed. Alister had never seen Kaden as outraged as he had been after the tournament. 

Alister himself had managed to escape from the fight that had disqualified his partner by turning and running the moment Kaden had disappeared; though Kor had managed to send a few rounds chasing after his tail before he could get out of range. 

At the time of Kaden’s defeat, there had only been a few hours before the tournament itself was set to end. After time was up, Alister, along with everyone else still in the game, was teleported back to the Academy proper, before making their way to the academy medical department where all students were required to go after either being disqualified or at the MSET's conclusion, for a safety examination.

It was there that Alister had briefly met with Kaden just as his defeated friend was leaving. In the few hours between their separation and reunion Kaden had calmed down outwardly, but Alister could feel the chilling storm of his anger just under normal perception. His friend had assured him that he was fine, so Alister had taken him at his word and had happily decided not to press the issue. That had been the last time they'd spoken until now.

Following ‘awkward topic/situation’ protocol, Alister had planned on giving Kaden his space and would simply check up on him during their next mandatory interaction, which would be when the class grace period was over and their combat lessons resumed. Unfortunately, Alister was not the only friend who was worried about Kaden's behavior and Sorana, having failed to contact Kaden on her own, had pressed Alister, reluctantly, into service. 

Which brings the story back to a white-furred Lombax standing outside of a locked doorway.

Eventually, Alister's feelings of awkwardness, from the thought that someone might be wondering why he hadn't moved from this spot for the past five minutes, won out over his desire to avoid an awkward conversation. 

Gathering his resolve, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. 

After waiting about a minute and receiving no response, he knocked again, much harder this time. 

After several more cycles of knocking and waiting with still no reply, Alister's patience was wearing thin. He then proceeded to slam on the door.

"Kaden!" Alister yelled at the sealed portal. "I know you're in there, so open up already."

"Is there a problem?" said an unfamiliar voice from behind Alister. Alister turned to search for the source of the question and found an extremely handsome, white-furred Lombax standing to his side wearing a friendly smile.

"Yeah, my friend locked himself in his room and won't answer," he explained, using the answer he'd rehearsed in his head during the initial time he'd waited outside the door.

"Oh, a friend of Kaden's, hmm?" noted the white-furred Lombax with intrigue. "Well then, that's good timing as I was just about to visit him myself."

Varick then waved his hand over the door panel and after it displayed the words 'Override', the door slid open.

Alister was surprised to see some stranger was able to open his friend’s door, but he shrugged it off by refocusing on his task at hand. 

The main light in Kaden's room was turned off, but it was still bright inside. The walls and floor were covered in holographic screens projected from an orb on a stand in the room's center. The Lombax himself was lying on his bed, staring at a holo-projection on the ceiling with his arm outstretched.

Kaden waved his arm in different directions and the video of the tournament above followed his commands. Alister watched as the projected depiction of Kor stopped behind a boulder and placed Kaden's glowing soul in his mouth before pulling his own soul out of the cradle on his chest. He then replaced it with a random soul he'd already collected and jammed it in place with some sticky slag left on his armor. The real Kaden then waved his arm to his left and the video reversed until he put his arm down again and it replayed the clip.

"Kaden," Alister called out. Kaden didn't respond. "Don't ignore me, Kaden!" he tried again, but there was still no response. "Kaden, if you don't answer me I'll…." Varick placed a hand on Alister's shoulder.

Alister turned to look at him and watched as the strange Lombax reached towards the room control panel and pushed a series of icons on it. With a sharp clang, Kaden's bed suddenly flipped sideways, sending him sprawling to the floor before it folded itself up into the corner.

Kaden shot to his feet, looking angrily at Varick. Alister felt the anger emanating from him, but it disappeared once he'd noticed his friend standing at the door as well. Kaden's eyes went out of focus, as they did whenever he accessed his NID extensively.

"What's up?" he asked casually when his eyes had returned to normal.

"What's up?" repeated Alister in disbelief. "I've been knocking on your door and calling your name for the past ten minutes!"

"Oh, sorry about that," said Kaden without looking very apologetic. "I had my ears turned off while I played audio through my NID directly. So, what'd you need?" 

Alister stared dumbfounded at the oblivious Lombax, "I needed to know if you were still alive!” he declared bluntly. “And then, barring that possibility, find out why you've been locked in your room since the tournament. Sorana's been really worried about you. We thought you'd gone crazy… well, more than usual at least." 

Kaden's ears perked for a moment before he answered, "I told you I was fine. I've just been busy," he insisted to his friend. 

Alister looked around the room. Every projected picture was a paused video from the tournament and all of them were focused on Kor.

"This doesn't look fine," Alister said with a gesture to the images on the walls. "You've become obsessed over losing the tournament."

Varick cleared his throat to interrupt, "Many times obsession is merely misunderstood determination."

Alister looked at Varick, still wondering who the Lombax was and why he was here.

He then turned back to Kaden and continued speaking, "What are you even hoping to do? What does staring at these videos accomplish?" he demanded.

Kaden looked around his room and then back at Alister, "I'm going to find his weakness," he answered resolutely. "Then, the next time we meet, I'll be ready."

"Forget it!" Alister replied somewhat more aggressively than he'd intended. "He's unstoppable. You should know after watching the recordings, but apparently that armored freak put three students in intensive care during the tournament. They were all so badly injured that they had to be teleported out before their souls even had time to demagnetize!"

"But he was awarded the points for them afterward," Varick interrupted again. He was now sitting at Kaden's desk, watching the conversation with interest. Alister gave Varick a questioning look, and he simply shrugged, "Just so you know. He did earn them after all." Alister looked like he was about to say something to Lombax, but Kaden spoke first.

"How can you say that? I would have thought you of all people would want to get back at him." Kaden turned his head slightly in a gesture towards a projection depicting Kor engulfed in flames with his fist in Alister's gut.

Alister winced as he saw the picture and remembered the feeling, but kept his resolve, "Of course I want to take him down, but he beat both of us together. The only thing we can do is continue with class and train harder. Even if he did have a weakness, we're probably not even strong enough to take advantage of it."

Kaden couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd seen Alister lose before and he'd always been eager for a rematch no matter who it was.  _ 'What was different about this time? _ ' he wondered.

"Maybe," said Kaden in slight concession, "but my strength isn't in combat and skill. I don't improve with just effort and training. I'll... design something, some kind of weapon or tool, and then I'll take Kor down, you wait and see. I just need... the right materials."

Varick's ears suddenly perked up and he clapped his hands together, causing both of the room's other occupants to flinch in surprise, "Excellent. That's what I like to hear; determination. What you need, Kaden… is a sponsor." The white-furred Lombax then quickly got up from his seat headed for the door. He stopped to look back at the other two Lombaxes that were staring at him in confusion and gestured for them to follow, "Come on. We're going to see a friend of mine."

Kaden and Alister followed the suddenly energetic Lombax down the hall at a brisk pace. Alister only followed because Kaden did, Kaden was doing it because he was now used to just following Varick without receiving an explanation beforehand.

On their way to the grav-lifts, Alister leaned over to speak to Kaden privately, "Hey, who is this guy, anyway?" he asked, finally unable to take his curiosity anymore. "Is he your mentor or what?"

"Yea, he is," Kaden answered in a tone that did not speak well for the strange Lombax's mentorship. "His name's Varick. He's also the president of the Science Field."

"What!?" blurted Alister, a little louder than he should have. A few students in the hall turned towards them at the sudden noise. Varick himself didn't pay it any mind though. "Why didn't you tell me one of the most powerful students in the academy was your Mentor?!" Alister demanded in a hushed, but still energetic tone.

Kaden, just now realizing he'd never actually told Alister about it, simply shrugged indifferently, "I didn't think it was that important."

Alister shook his head in astonishment as the three of them arrived at the Grav-lifts and Varick punched in a floor level on the command screen. They all then boarded the grav-lift and waited in silence as it took them to the fourth level of the Science Field’s Supply Depot. 

Kaden hadn't been down to this one yet. He had been able to get all the supplies he needed for the tournament on the third level or he had used his classroom workshops to make them (he even had permission from their respective instructors for most of them).

The three of them exited the lift and were immediately greeted by sight of two, large security bots that stood on either side of a gateway. A Lombax, outfitted in the blue armor of the Nova Academy Security Administration, stopped Varick as they approached and got him to press his hand to a digi-pad while a large sensor on the ceiling scanned him. Kaden and Alister copied Varick's process, but Varick had to give special permission to Alister since he was from another field. The two of them then continued following the president through the gateway.

On the other side was a room that didn't look anything like the mall above, despite being part of the Supply Depot. It looked more like a shipping warehouse. Stockpiles of materials and crates covered the floors and lined the walls and shelves. Lifter bots of all different sizes roamed these lines, picking up and dropping items seemingly at random.

After walking for a surprisingly long time, Varick turned and climbed some stairs that led into a very wide hallway. Several doors lined one side of the passage, but the other side was one, massively long window.

Kaden and Alister both caught their breaths as they looked through it. The window overlooked an entire starport! Large freight shuttles were dropping off or loading up tons of supplies and coming or going through one of several massive hangar doorways even further back. Clearly, the port's entrances had been cut out of the side of Mt. Supernova and Kaden was beginning to wonder how much of the mountain was actually made of rock.

"Ah, here he is," said Varick as he spotted a brown-furred Lombax who was talking to himself while staring out of the window.

At Varick's words the Lombax turned and told an invisible person that he had to go and to expect the plans to proceed normally. He then blinked hard (a sign of someone ending a NID direct transmission), before spreading his arms in greeting.

"Varick, what brings you down here? I can't imagine it's business after that upset during the tournament."

"Ha, ha, well... you're correct that I don't have many bolts to smelt at the moment, but I do have something business related that may interest you," he said friendlily before turning to introduce Kaden. "Mercatus, this is Kaden. He's my protégé for the time being. Kaden, this is Mercatus and he's one of the best businessbaxes in the academy."

The brown Lombax grinned wide at the compliment and reached out to shake Kaden's hand, "Pleased to meet you," he said as Kaden took his hand. "I saw you fight in the tournament. Sorry about the ending. It was a great show though."

"Thanks… I guess," Kaden replied dejectedly.

"Ha, well I wouldn't expect you to be happy about it. And this?" asked Mercatus as he noticed Alister standing behind Kaden.

Varick also seemed to notice Alister just now, "Ah yes, this is his companion, Alister Azimuth."

Alister looked slightly surprised that Varick knew his name despite him never mentioning it. Kaden wasn't surprised, but it annoyed him how Varick seemed to know everything. He then reflected on how he himself had a tendency to collect every scrap of data on anything or anyone he dealt with and tried to ignore the obvious similarity.

"Mr. Azimuth, it's an honor to meet you," said Mercatus with surprising enthusiasm. This time both Kaden and Alister were surprised.

"Honor?" asked Alister curiously, though, Kaden could tell by his friend’s tone that he liked it.

"Of course!" answered Mercatus, "There isn't an entrepreneur worth a crate of bolts that doesn't know about the Azimuth Trillium Mining Corporation. It's one of the most profitable mining operations in the galaxy."

"Oh," said Alister, deflating slightly.

With introductions complete, Mercatus turned back to the president, "So, Varick, what's this interesting business of yours?" he asked. 

Varick cleared his throat before responding, "Well, you've seen these two fight in the tournament, right? Well, what if I told you that almost all of the equipment Kaden and Alister here were using, was designed and built by a single, brilliant Lombax who's now attending Nova?"

Mercatus let out a low whistle, "You made all that?" he said to Kaden with eyebrows raised. "I thought you must have been some kind of rich kid. I haven't seen tech that advanced in the tournament since Varick here participated." Mercatus smiled and turned to look at Varick before adding, "Though he is a rich kid who bought most of his gear."

Varick didn't look too happy at Mercatus' words. This was probably the first time Kaden had seen Varick frown.

"Anyway," Varick continued, "Kaden here was just telling me about how he plans to build new weapons and gear to help him beat a certain, increasingly famous fuzzy that I'm sure you know. His only problem is that he doesn't have the supplies to do it."

"Ah," said Mercatus, as he started connecting dots, "so you want me to loan the supplies to you, is that it?"

"Not at all," said Varick with a shake of his head. "I'm just introducing you two as a supplier with supplies and an inventor in need of them. Even if I did have the means to, I have no intention of taking up any more side investments at the moment. However, if ‘you’ were interested in a new side investment, then I can personally vouch for Kaden's skill as an inventor; though, you've already seen his handiwork."

Mercatus rubbed his chin for a moment as he pondered Varick's proposal before addressing Kaden directly, "The usual relationship between nameless inventors like yourself and investors like me is that I supply the material and then get the production rights to anything you invent; you provide the ingenuity and, in return, receive the bragging rights to be hired at a high-paying company. Though, seeing as you have Varick's stamp of approval, I can offer you minor royalties if any of your products sell. We can discuss specifics in my office, but from what I've seen, investing in you could be a pretty profitable choice. If nothing else it would be interesting, but I'd like to hear your opinion on this? Knowing Varick you probably didn't know what you came down here for until I did, am I right?"

Kaden nodded and took a moment to ponder the proposition himself. He didn't like the idea of selling his inventions, but without materials and tools, there was no way he could build a weapon strong enough to take Kor down on his own. On top of that, he had spent almost all his academy allowance on materials for the tournament. Most of the past day had been dedicated to just calculating how he'd pay for basic necessities.

"Ok," Kaden said at last. "I'll wait to see it on paper to be sure, but it sounds fair. I'm in."

"Excellent!" said Mercatus happily. "I have to meet with the dockmaster for now, but how about we meet this evening to discuss the contract?"

Kaden agreed and they exchanged NID link IDs before Mercatus said his goodbyes and left.

"Well I'm glad things appear to be working out," said Varick, who was looking very pleased. "Just so you know, I'm also looking forward to seeing what you can do with adequate supplies. Now, Mercatus just reminded me that I need to check with the dockmaster as well. I'm expecting a rare shipment of Bogonese tree berries. They taste so good, they're worth the shipping charges for intergalactic transport. You'll have to show yourselves back to the grav-lifts." Varick then left Kaden and Alister to find their own way out.

As the two walked back to the grav-lifts Kaden's mind was racing with the prospect of being able to build anything he wanted. Since the tournament had ended, his mind had been filling with blueprints and designs for weapons and gadgets like never before and now, he had the ability to make them a reality. After noticing his facial expression, Alister interrupted his thoughts.

"I know that look," he said darkly. "You're about to lock yourself in your room again and go all mad scientist for the next week, aren't you?"

"Of course not!" replied Kaden with a serious tone. "I'll need to get some food first. Gah!-”

Alister punched Kaden in the arm because he knew his friend was only half joking, "First thing we do is show Sorana that you're alive. She still thinks you have an injury or something, and that's why she can't get in touch with you."

"What?" Kaden asked in confusion while rubbing his arm. "I replied to all of her transmissions when I deactivated my NID's audio feed."

"Yea, with a text-only message saying you were fine,” blasted Alister. “You know Kaden, you might have a big brain, but it's behind a really thick skull. Of course she'd be concerned when you don't answer a comm. link that's embedded in your head."

* * *

Varick managed to catch up to Mercatus just as the young business student finished imprinting his hand and personal code into a digi-pad for a shipment about to be unloaded. He returned it to the dockmaster who then ordered the lifter-bots behind him to get to work.

"Ah, Varick," began Mercatus, unsurprised to see the president again so soon. "I figured you'd have something to say that you couldn't in front of your companions."

"Am I that easy to read?" replied Varick with a grin. "In any case, you're right. I wanted to see if I couldn't convince you to give your contract negotiations with Kaden a little reprieve from your usual severity."

"You want to sponsor him secretly?" Mercatus asked. "I can't believe that, not with how much rumors say you lost on the three heads' fuzzy race. I'm amazed that 'A Step Ahead Adjunaris' would even make such a wager."

Varick smiled solemnly, "Yes, it was a very rare occasion, one where two of Nova's leaders each got a fuzzy worthy of an enormous gamble for Fuzzy Christmas." Varick sighed deeply. "No, I don't have the bolts on me at the moment, though I'd spend them if I could. Instead, I was hoping you'd do this as... a favor."

Mercatus raised an eyebrow at the Lombax, "A favor from the president of Nova Academy's Science Field," he said with wonder, more so just to hear how it sounded aloud. "Now that does sound interesting, but why? What do you get from all this?"

Varick didn't respond immediately. He turned and leaned over the railing to watch the lifter-bots move Mercatus's cargo, "I'm sure you can tell already that Kaden is a brilliant young Lombax with more potential than this academy's seen in years, but brilliance can be a double edged sword. True geniuses are capable of so much more than even the toughest standards and unfortunately, they rarely find the motivation to attain the heights no one has before, the heights they're truly capable of. They're like immovable objects that reach the top and just sit there."

Mercatus smiled as a puzzle piece fit into place, "Is this about Kaden or your sister?" he asked while joining his old friend on the railing.

Varick nodded a few times, "I can't do much about her," he admitted sadly, "Even I don't have the power to move an immovable object. I've even tried to make Kaden think the whole academy was out to get him from jealousy."

Mercatus laughed, "You know that didn't work with her either. She just buried everyone else and left them eating her dust. What is she now, a level five?" he said.

"She's a six now," Varick corrected him. "At the very least she isn't letting her grades drop from boredom. That's all I can hope for her now. This time, however, as if by destiny, Kaden the immovable object decided to sit down in front of Kor the unstoppable force," Varick's face twisted into a huge grin, "and probably for the first time in his life, he's found himself knocked aside, lying on his back, and looking up."

* * *

Alister and Kaden arrived on the Main Lobby floor and made their way through the lounge area. They were headed for the entrance when they stopped at a headline written across one of the large holo-displays that dotted the area. It said: 'Nova's Red Reaper Breaks Tournament Records'. 

Above the headline, sat two Lombaxes at a desk like typical news anchors.

"With the final participant released from the med-hall just moments ago, which also marks the new record for length of a tournament hospitalization, we are now officially allowed to disclose the scores for this year's MSE tournament and it was quite the event, wasn't it, Dana?" said the white-furred male on the left.

"Yes Todd, according to one of the few level nine students still at Mt. Supernova, it was easily the most exciting MSE in the past century," continued the brown furred female on the right. "This marks not only the first time in the past decade that a level one student was among the top three scorers, but the first time in Nova Academy history that all top three spots were taken by level one students!"

Todd continued next, "We'll display the full list of participants along with their scores after this broadcast, but for now let's go over those top three names. For those that don’t know, points for the tournament are tallied as one point for every level one soul acquired and two for every level two soul. In third place, we have a Nova Academy legacy student from the Military Field, Viscera Suraisu, who single-handedly scored forty-two points."

"In second place, also a Military Field student and heir to the mega-firm, Azimuth Trillium Mining Industries, Alister Azimuth finished with a total of 55 points," continued Dana, but then a slight smile crossed her lips before she spoke again, "He's also the only student to have crossed wrenches with this year's first place winner and come out with his balls still attached."

There was a pause before Todd continued, "Why would you phrase your lines like that Dana?" he asked without changing his news anchor tone.

Dana's slight smile didn't disappear as she answered without facing her co-anchor, "Because Todd, if you had said the same thing, it would have been considered inappropriate and I know how much that burns you," Dana answered, also with an unchanged tone.

Todd turned back to the camera, seemingly unfazed, "Well, speaking of burning, first place winner Kor Vol'terran was on fire this tournament, in one case literally, as he scored a record-shattering 376 points! The majority of his score came from an amazing upset when he ironically took down Eric 'Big Red' Anderson, who earned his nickname for his famous temper tantrum during last year's MSET."

A picture of Kor standing over the leader of the group Kaden and Alister had seen with the camera-drone replaced the background of the news show.

It was Dana's turn again, "After swearing to win this year's tournament at the conclusion of last's, Mr. Anderson formed the largest collaboration of MSE participants since the famed 'Adjunaris Brigade'. Anyone who knows the tournament also knows the traditional cycle of new level one students going in headstrong and alone, only to be cut down by their level two elders who have already learned the error of that tactic."

Todd continued next, "Of course, it's hard to make an argument for teamwork when clearly the one Lombax platoon now known by some as Nova Academy's own 'Red Reaper', from the famous holo-game of the same name, needed no help securing his place in the record books. The only close call came when top-ranked Kor met with second place holder Alister Azimuth and his sidekick, whose full name is not listed as he received zero points for this event."

"I'm sure anyone who watched it doesn't need a reminder of how the Red Reaper of Nova broke free from a trap, sprung by Mr. Azimuth, by using a notoriously volatile combat augmenter known as 'Inferno Mode'. I'll bet the only thing hotter than his armor is probably his toned, warrior's body underneath."

Todd paused again, "Thank you, Dana, for the disturbing mental image. Join us later tonight for more examples on how not having a tail gets you the freedom to do whatever you want on holo-vision, right here, on The Solar Flare."

The news show was replaced on the holo-screen with a running list of student names next to their scores, both their total score and by type of souls acquired. As Todd had said, Kaden's name wasn't on the list since his score was zero. Alister fought back a grin as Kaden stared blankly at the holo-screen.

After a few seconds, he simply sighed, "Let's just go to the Art Field."

Unable to contain himself, "Yes my faithful sidekick, we mustn't keep the fair lady Bellit waiting," said Alister in imitation of an old holo-vision superhero.

Kaden groaned audibly, before marching off with the still grinning Alister in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mercatus - This is a name I didn’t mess with when I found it. It literally translates to ‘market’ in Latin
> 
> Dana Tayori - ‘Tayori’ means ‘news’, ‘tidings’, or ‘information’ in Japanese.
> 
> Todd Berita - ‘Berita’ means ‘information’, ‘tidings’, or ‘announcements’ in Indonesian.
> 
> In retrospect, I realize I didn’t mess with ‘Tayori’ or ‘Berita’ either. Hmmm…
> 
> Solar Flare - Nova Academy’s student-run news organization is called the Solar Flare in reference to how solar flares are notoriously hard to predict and, since they happen so suddenly and move at the speed of light, being able to report on one before anyone that would be affected could see it would have to be almost immediate.


End file.
